Associated Press
The American League roundup …
OAKLAND, Calif. ó Coco Crisp hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the first-place Texas Rangers 4-3 on Thursday to avoid a series sweep.
The reigning AL champion Rangers began the day with a magic number of three to clinch their second straight AL West crown. The Angels were playing at Toronto in a night game.
Texas, which started the day with a five-game lead over Los Angeles, headed home for three games with the Mariners before ending the regular season at Anaheim.
Rays 15, Yankees 8
NEW YORK ó Matt Moore struck out 11 in five innings of his first major league start and the Rays unloaded on the watered-down Yankees a night after New York clinched the AL East title.
The Rays avoided a four-game sweep and pulled within two games on idle Boston in the AL wild-card race. Both teams have six games left.
Twins 3, Mariners 2
MINNEAPOLIS ó Rene Tosoni hit an RBI double with two outs in the ninth inning and the Minnesota Twins snapped their 11-game losing streak, beating the Seattle Mariners.
The Twins avoided another sweep and won for just the second time in 17 games.
Indians 11, White Sox 2
CLEVELAND ó Asdrubal Cabrera drove in five runs and Jeanmar Gomez won his fifth straight start for Cleveland as the Indians beat the White Sox to remain in second place in the AL Central.
Blue Jays 4, Angels 3
TORONTO ó Edwin Encarnacion hit a game-ending home run in the 12th inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Los Angeles, dealing the Angels another blow in their chase for a playoff berth.
Orioles 6, Tigers 5
DETROIT ó J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones homered and the Orioles ruined the Tigersí homecoming.
Back home from a road trip during which they clinched their first division title since 1987, were given a standing ovation when they took the field for the first inning. The crowd of 28,847, though, was the smallest at Comerica Park since June 29.
Zach Britton (11-10) gave up five runs, six hits and four walks in five innings.
Vladimir Guerreroís RBI single scored Hardy in the first, and Hardyís 29th homer made it 2-0 in the third.
Detroit tied the game with four runs in the fifth, including a long three-run homer by Delmon Young, but Baltimore went back up in the sixth when Reimold beat out a two-out infield single off David Pauley (5-6).
The Associated Press
09/22/11 23:05