Hot Orioles win at Fenway
<p>Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, center, reaches out to New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera following a ceremony dedicating a monument to the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner before the Yankees' game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yanee Stadium in New York, Monday.</p>
• AMERICAN LEAGUE
Ty Wigginton had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly and Luke Scott followed with an RBI single in the seventh inning, lifting the visiting Baltimore Orioles to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.
The Orioles, rejuvenated since Buck Showalter took over as manager Aug. 3, won for the 11th time 15 games. Baltimore won for just the fourth time in their last 21 games in Fenway Park.
Tigers 7, Royals 5: Will Rhymes hit his first major league homer and Alex Avila drove in three runs and made a spectacular defensive play to lead host Detroit past Kansas City.
Detroit trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, then took the lead on Rhymes' two-run homer off Zack Greinke.
Twins 9, Indians 3: At Minneapolis, Danny Valencia and Michael Cuddyer hit home runs and Brian Duensing got his 10th win as Minnesota beat Cleveland.
The victory cut the Twins' magic number for winning the AL Central to three. Chicago, which is in second place, played later at Oakland.
Yankees 8, Rays 6: After the Yankees unveiled a huge monument to George Steinbrenner, Derek Jeter singled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning. Curtis Granderson followed with his second home run of the night, a three-run drive that helped host New York over second-place Tampa Bay in a key AL East matchup.
Winning the opener of a four-game series that started its final homestand, New York (91-59) opened a 1 1/2-game lead over the Rays (89-60).
Athletics 3, White Sox 0: Chris Carter finally got his first major league hit, Boof Bonser won for the first time in more than two years and host Oakland sent Chicago to its seventh straight loss.
Kurt Suzuki had three hits and two RBIs as the A's won their third in four games.
Angels 7, Rangers 4: At Anaheim, Calif., Torii Hunter drove in two runs to back Jered Weaver's solid pitching and Los Angeles beat Texas.
• NATIONAL LEAGUE
Phillies 3, Braves 1: Cole Hamels had another outstanding outing and host Philadelphia took advantage of an error by right fielder Jason Heyward to beat Atlanta, increasing its lead in the NL East to four games.
The two-time defending NL champions won their eighth straight game and improved to 42-15 since July 21, when they trailed the Braves by seven games.
Marlins 4, Cardinals 0: At Miami, Chris Volstad threw a five-hitter for his second career shutout, Brad Davis hit a grand slam off Chris Carpenter, and Florida dealt St. Louis' dimming playoff hopes a blow by beating the Cardinals.
Davis' first career slam - the first by a Marlins catcher - came in the second inning, the first allowed by Carpenter (15-8) in 3,699 at-bats since June 12, 2004.
Astros 8, Nationals 2: Humberto Quintero and Geoff Blum each homered in a seven-run fifth inning, Bud Norris won for the seventh time in eight decisions and visiting Houston beat mistake-prone Washington.
Reds 5, Brewers 2: Joey Votto and Scott Rolen homered on back-to-back pitches in the eighth inning to break open a tie game and lead visiting Cincinnati over Milwaukee.
The Reds widened their lead in the National League Central to seven games over the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost 4-0 to the Florida Marlins on Monday. Cincinnati's magic number for clinching their first NL Central title since 1995 is six.