ARLINGTON, Texas — Gio Gonzalez won his third consecutive start and the Oakland Athletics cut their AL West deficit to 7 1/2 games with an 8-2 victory Sunday, taking two of three in their series with the division-leading Texas Rangers.
Mark Ellis and Kevin Kouzmanoff homered for the A's off Colby Lewis (9-11), while Cliff Pennington snapped out of a 2-for-24 slide with two singles and a sacrifice squeeze bunt.
Gonzalez (12-8) left with a 7-2 lead after throwing 65 of his 95 pitches for strikes in six innings on another hot day in Texas. The left-hander is 7-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 10 day games this season.
YANKEES 2, WHITE SOX 1: At Chicago, rookie IvanNova set aside any worries he had about a Major League Baseball investigation and earned his first career win and MarcusThames hit another homer for New York. It was an impressive outing for Nova (1-0), who allowed one run and five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. He outpitched GavinFloyd (9-11) in his second start, a day after reports surfaced that the league is investigating him and a former minor league teammate for allegedly injecting each other with B-12 shots. The vitamin is not on baseball's list of banned substances. Thames led off the second with his fifth homer in five games and ninth overall.
RAYS 5, RED SOX 3: At St. Petersburg, Fla., CarlosPeña and CarlCrawford homered to back JamesShields and help Tampa Bay retain a share of first place in the AL East. Keeping pace with the New York Yankees, the Rays rebounded from losing the opener of a crucial weekend series to win two straight and drop the third-place Red Sox 6 1/2 games behind in the division and wild card. Shields (13-11) won for the sixth time in eight starts, allowing three runs and seven hits over 6 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out eight before turning over a one-run lead to a better-than-expected bullpen.
ROYALS 6, INDIANS 2: At Cleveland, KilaKa'aihue hit a go-ahead double in the seventh inning to help BruceChen and Kansas City beat the Indians. Chen (9-7) allowed two runs and six hits over six innings as the Royals avoided a three-game sweep. MikeAviles blooped a one-out single to center off FaustoCarmona (11-13) and scored on Ka'aihue's drive into the left-center gap to put the Royals ahead 3-2.
TIGERS 10, BLUE JAYS 4: At Toronto, RyanRaburn hit two home runs, RickPorcello pitched two-hit ball for seven innings to lead Detroit. Porcello (7-11) won consecutive starts for the first time this season. He walked none and struck out four. In his last outing, Porcello shut out Kansas City on two hits for seven innings. Raburn is batting .341 with eight homers and 21 RBIs in his past 23 games. Detroit opened the scoring in the first against MarcRzepczynski (1-3) on an RBI double by MiguelCabrera.
ORIOLES 1, ANGELS 0: At Anaheim, Calif., JeremyGuthrie allowed four hits while pitching into the ninth inning, and two relievers helped complete Baltimore's six-game season sweep of the struggling Angels. LukeScott scored on MattWieters' sacrifice fly in the seventh. The Orioles limited the Angels to one run in three games while sweeping the season series for the first time by either club in a half-century of competition. Guthrie (8-13) allowed just one runner to reach third base until ReggieWillits hustled for a one-out double in the ninth and advanced on HowieKendrick's single.
MARINERS 2, TWINS 1: At Seattle, a wild pitch, a misplayed fly ball and a fielder's choice by AdamMoore in a two-run seventh inning helped the Mariners beat Minnesota and avoid a three-game series sweep. LukeFrench (3-4) allowed three hits, including a home run by MichaelCuddyer, in his seven innings.
DavidAardsma gave up a single to OrlandoHudson with one out in the ninth, but then got Cuddyer to hit into a broken-bat double play behind second base for his 25th save in 30 chances.