Beckett, Wang earn 17th victories
Josh Beckett won his major-league-leading 17th game, and rookie Jacoby Ellsbury had 3 hits, helping the Boston Red Sox beat Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Tuesday night in Boston.
Ellsbury homered after Coco Crisp barely beat out the relay to stay out of a double play and avoid the third out in the fourth inning. Ellsbury, who also tripled and singled in the game, hit the next pitch from Halladay (14-7) into the Toronto bullpen to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.
Julio Lugo and Dustin Pedroia followed with back-to-back doubles to make it 4-0. Beckett (17-6) gave up a three-run homer to Matt Stairs in the fifth, but retired the last eight batters he faced before Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.
Kevin Youkilis hit a solo homer in the eighth to make it 5-3.
Yankees 12, Mariners 3: Chien-Ming Wang (17-6) smothered Seattle to get his 17th win, and Jorge Posada homered twice as host New York's slumbering offense woke up in a win over Seattle.
Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu also homered, and Posada, Abreu and Robinson Cano had 4 hits each for New York, which boosted its AL wild-card lead to 2 games over the Mariners and 3½ over Detroit. Abreu was in a 2-for-15 slump coming in and Cano was in a 2-for-16 slide.
Orioles 8, Devil Rays 4: Melvin Mora drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and Ramon Hernandez followed with a three-run double as Baltimore beat host Tampa Bay.
It was Baltimore's second win in 14 games, and the Orioles have been outscored 132-64 in that stretch.
Rangers 9, Royals 8: Ian Kinsler raced home with the go-ahead run on a throwing error in the seventh inning, and host Texas held on for a victory over Kansas City.
Kinsler went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI and scored 2 runs for Texas, which won for the eighth time in the last 10 games.
National League
Mets 11, Reds 7: Paul Lo Duca hit a pair of 3-run homers and drove in a career-high 7 runs, powering New York to its fifth straight victory, beating host Cincinnati.
The NL East leaders have regained control of their division with their longest winning streak of the season. A balanced offense has led the way, piling up 46 runs in the last six games and reaching double-digits three times.
Phillies 5, Braves 2: Ryan Howard hit his 37th homer, and Kyle Lohse quieted Atlanta's offense to help Philadelphia end a three-game losing streak, beating host Atlanta.
Howard, the 2006 NL MVP, made it 2-0 in the first with his 15th career homer off the Braves and sixth at Turner Field. Chipper Jones hit his 23rd homer for Atlanta, which has lost four of five and 10 of 14.
Nationals 4, Marlins 3: Jesus Flores' 2-run, ninth-inning double gave host Washington a win over Florida.
With the Nationals trailing 3-2 in the ninth inning, Dmitri Young led off with a walk off Kevin Gregg (0-5). With one out, Wily Mo Pena singled to third and pinch-runner Ryan Langerhans advanced to third. After Ronnie Belliard popped to first, Flores doubled to the left-field corner, scoring Langerhans and Pena.
It was Gregg's third blown save of the year.
Rockies 6, Giants 5: Brad Hawpe singled in the game-winning run with one out in the ninth inning to lift Colorado over the San Francisco, the Rockies' third straight win.
With their fifth victory in six games, the Rockies improved to a season-high six games over .500. Colorado began the day 4 games behind Arizona in the wild-card race and 5 games behind San Diego in the NL West.