David Wells struck out nine in eight strong innings, and Scott Brosius homered for the second straight game as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3 on Saturday.
The Yankees have taken three of four from Cleveland in the past week after getting knocked out of the AL division series by the Indians last fall. New York improved to a major league-leading 50-17.Wells (9-2) allowed eight hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out David Justice and Geronimo Berroa three times apiece. Mari-ano Rivera allowed an RBI single in the ninth before picking up his 16th save.
Brosius homered off Dave Burba (8-5) in the fifth.
ANGELS 8, RANGERS 3: At Anaheim, Calif., Steve Sparks overcame Juan Gonzalez's two-run homer in the first inning as Anaheim beat Texas.
Sparks (2-0) rebounded from a three-run first to blank the Rangers on three hits over the next 51/3 innings as the Angels won for the 17th time in 20 games to increase their AL West lead over Texas to 11/2 games.
Gonzalez hit his 23rd homer to increase his major league-RBI total to 88.
ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 2: At Seattle, Jimmy Haynes pitched shutout ball for 71/3 innings before being knocked out of the game by a line drive and A.J. Hinch and Jason Giambi hit home runs as Oakland beat Seattle.
Haynes (5-3) allowed four singles, walked two and struck out six. He left the game after being hit in the right forearm by Joey Cora's line drive. The ball ricocheted to first baseman Jack Voight who made the putout.
DEVIL RAYS 8, RED SOX 5: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Paul Sorrento hit a two-run homer and Dave Martinez doubled with the bases loaded to drive in two runs as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays stopped Boston's four-game winning streak.
Julio Santana (2-0) allowed seven hits over 52/3 innings to get his first victory as a starter for the Devil Rays, who scored six runs off Red Sox starter Bret Saberhagen (8-5).
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 3: At Detroit, Bobby Higginson and Luis Gonzalez hit first-inning homers and Brian Moehler continued his strong pitching at home as the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals.
The win was just Detroit's third in their last 11 home games, and ended Kansas City's three-game winning streak.
Moehler (7-5) improved his record to 7-0 at Tiger Stadium, allowing one run on eight hits over 61/3 innings.
ORIOLES 11, BLUE JAYS 3: At Baltimore, Lenny Webster hit the first of three homers off Woody Williams and Baltimore's Scott Erickson pitched his fifth complete game as the Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays.
Webster's three-run drive in the second inning put Baltimore ahead to stay. Eric Davis and Rafael Palmeiro added two-run homers as the Orioles moved past Toronto into sole possession of third place in the AL East for the first time since May 17.
Baltimore's Brady Anderson tied a career high with four hits, including two doubles.
WHITE SOX 8, TWINS 7 (11 innings): At Chicago, pinch-hitter Wil Cordero and Greg Norton hit RBI singles with two outs to cap an 11th-inning rally as Chicago outlasted Minnesota.
The Twins scored four runs in the ninth to tie it at 5, and took a 6-5 lead in the 10th, but Mike Cameron's two-out single in the bottom half tied it.
Minnesota again took the lead in the 11th on Orlando Merced's RBI grounder. But the White Sox came back to end a four-game losing streak with four straight two-out singles off Rick Aguilera (3-4).