AL roundup: Sabathia picks up 16th win for Yankees

BALTIMORE — CC Sabathia allowed one run in seven innings to earn his AL-leading 16th victory, Alex Rodriguez got his 2,500th hit and drove in four runs, and the New York Yankees beat Baltimore 10-2 on Wednesday night for a three-game sweep.

Eric Hinske homered and Johnny Damon had four hits for the Yankees, who used a seven-run ninth inning to turn a tight game into a rout. New York has won six straight and is 34-11 since the All-Star break.

Sabathia (16-7) struck out nine, gave up seven hits and walked one.

RANGERS 6, BLUE JAYS 4: At Arlington, Texas, ElvisAndrus hit a go-ahead two-run homer, NelsonCruz went deep for the 30th time and the TexasRangers gained ground in the American League playoff chase with their third straight victory.

Texas moved within 3.5 games of the AL West-leading Angels, who have lost two in a row. It is the closest the Rangers have been in the division since the same margin Aug. 9 after a win in Los Angeles. The Rangers are 2.5 games behind wild-card leader Boston.

RAYS 8, RED SOX 5: At St. Petersburg, Fla., PatBurrell snapped an eighth-inning tie with a RBI single and EvanLongoria followed with a two-run homer to help Tampa Bay avoid falling farther back in the AL playoff race.

A night after playing poorly in the opener of a series crucial to their hopes of returning to the postseason, the defending AL champions rebounded with a solid effort to move within five games of the wild card-leading Red Sox.

WHITE SOX 4, TWINS 2: At Minneapolis, GordonBeckham and PaulKonerko hit consecutive home runs off JoeNathan with two outs in the ninth inning to lead Chicago past Minnesota.

Nathan's fifth blown save this season in 40 chances ruined rookie BrianDuensing's seven shutout innings. In their final game at the Metrodome, where they finished 2-7 this year and 3-16 since the summer of 2007, the White Sox rallied for just their second victory in 10 games on their road trip.

TIGERS 4, INDIANS 2: At Detroit, MagglioOrdonez had three hits, and Detroit took advantage of five Cleveland errors to open a 4.5-game lead over Minnesota in the AL Central.

Rookie RickPorcello (12-8) got the win, giving up two runs on five hits in seven-plus innings. The 20-year-old rookie has allowed two or fewer runs in six of his last seven starts and has now won more games than any Tigers pitcher before the age of 21.

MARINERS 3, ANGELS 0: At Seattle, FelixHernandez pitched eight scoreless innings to spoil ScottKazmir's Angels pitching debut.

Hernandez (14-5) gave up four hits, walked three and struck out six to lower his ERA to 2.65 — second best in the American League.

Kazmir, acquired Friday from Tampa Bay, gave up one run and three hits in 6 1-3 innings. He walked one and struck out eight.

ATHLETICS 10, ROYALS 4: At Oakland, Calif., LandonPowell hit his first career grand slam to help Oakland score five runs in the second inning, and TrevorCahill (8-12) won consecutive starts for the first time in more than two months.