Twins fall apart, fall out of first
Tony Pena Jr. has played sparingly since losing his starting shortstop job to rookie Mike Aviles in June, but he delivered in a big way Sunday.
Pena Jr. broke out of a slump at just the right time, driving in Mark Teahen with the winning run in the 12th inning to give the Kansas City Royals a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in Kansas City, Mo.
The Twins fell into second place in the AL Central, a half-game behind the White Sox.
Pena, who had only 2 at-bats in August, didn't enter the game until the eighth inning as a pinch runner. He snapped an 0-for-17 drought with a one-out single in the 10th, then followed Teahen's double with another base hit in the 12th.
The Twins walked Jose Guillen intentionally to face Pena, who is hitting .157.
"I figured they were going to do that," Pena said. "He's a power hitter, so I just tried to make them pay and it worked out."
The Royals took advantage of 2 errors and a wild pitch to score 3 of their first four 4, and the Twins blew a 4-2 lead in the eighth.
"The easiest way to describe that game was we gave it away," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Early in the game, late in the game, it was probably as bad a defense as you can play. The first 2 runs they got (were) ridiculous - a chopper back to the mound and we're not covering first base.
"We missed opportunities to score, but still, if we catch the ball and get the outs we're supposed to get that's a 'W,' not a loss."
Scott Baker, who is 5-1 in his past 10 starts, held the Royals to 7 hits and 2 runs, with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts in 7 innings.
Indians 4, Blue Jays 0: Cliff Lee worked 8 shutout innings for his American League-leading 16th win and visiting Cleveland completed a three-game sweep, beating Toronto.
Lee (16-2) lowered his ERA to 2.45, moving him ahead of Oakland's Justin Duchscherer (2.51) for the major-league lead. He won his fifth straight decision and has not lost since a 4-3 defeat at Minnesota on July 6. He gave up 8 hits - 7 of them singles - with no walks. He struck out one.
The left-hander is responsible for 16 of his teams 52 wins (31 percent), the highest percentage of any major-league pitcher.