BOSTON — Jayson Nix drove in three runs and Chicago scored four runs in both the second and third innings, beating Boston 9-5 on Thursday night to avoid a four-game sweep.
Chicago battered rookie Junichi Tazawa (2-3) for nine runs just five days after he pitched six scoreless innings in a 14-1 win over New York. Infielder Nick Green pitched two scoreless innings for Boston.
John Danks (12-8) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings to improve to 3-0 in his last four starts and 5-1 in his last eight outings on the road.
J.D. Drew hit two solo homers and Alex Gonzalez added one as the Red Sox hit more than one homer for the 11th time in 13 games.
Chicago broke a four-game losing streak, snapped a tie for second place in the AL Central with Minnesota and moved four games behind first-place Detroit. Boston remained six games behind the Yankees in the AL East and dropped to 11/2 games ahead of Texas in the wild card.
RANGERS 7, YANKEES 2: At New York, IanKinsler homered twice and the Texas bullpen pitched shutout ball as the Rangers became the first visitors to win a series at YankeeStadium since mid-June. Kinsler and ChrisDavis both had three-run homers for Texas, which took two of three from the club with the best record in the majors. JasonGrilli (2-2), C.J. Wilson and FrankFrancisco combined for 51/3 innings of two-hit relief. A.J. Burnett (10-8) lost despite striking out a season-high 12 in six innings. Kinsler got Texas' first hit, the three-run homer in the fourth, and connected for a solo homer in the eighth, giving him a career-high 28 for the season. Davis hit his three-run homer in the seventh off PhilCoke.
INDIANS 5, ORIOLES 4: At Baltimore, AndyMarte hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth for Cleveland. JimJohnson (3-5) got the first two outs in the ninth before allowing a single to MattLaPorta. After going 3-0 on Marte, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, Johnson worked the count full before Marte hit a liner that barely cleared the 7-foot wall in left field. It was his second home run in 69 at-bats this season. RafaelPerez (3-2) pitched 12/3 innings of one-hit relief and KerryWood got three outs for his 17th save. GradySizemore homered and Shin-SooChoo had three hits for the Indians, who trailed 4-2 in the seventh. Cleveland has won 15 of 25 and is 22-16 since the All-Star break. MelvinMora and MattWieters homered for the Orioles.
ROYALS 8, MARINERS 4: At Seattle, Yuniesky Betancourt hit one of the Royals' four home runs in his return to Seattle. Brayan Pena, Alberto Callaspo and David DeJesus also homered for the Royals in their first four-homer game this season. It was enough support for Kyle Davies (5-9), who went six innings to earn the victory.
ATHLETICS 2, ANGELS 2: At Anaheim, Calif., Ryan Sweeney was a double short of hitting for the cycle, and Trevor Cahill allowed just two hits over seven shutout innings as Oakland blanked the AL West-leading Angels.