KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) β The Kansas City Royals have moved a half-game ahead of Detroit in the AL Central with a 3-2 win against Oakland. Alcides Escobar snapped a 2-2 deadlock with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Greg Holland closed out a combined three-hitter for his AL-leading 35th save as the Royals cut the Athletics’ lead in the AL West to 3 Β½ games over the Los Angeles Angels.
PITTSBURGH (AP) β The Tigers had more to worry about than their 11-6 loss in Pittsburgh. Detroit starter Justin Verlander surrendered five runs in the first inning before leaving with a sore right shoulder. Travis Snider hit two of the Pirates’ four homers to help them hand the Tigers their fifth loss in six games.
BALTIMORE (AP) β The Baltimore Orioles crushed the New York Yankees 11-3 but lost Manny Machado in the process as the third baseman sprained his knee while swinging at a pitch in the third inning. Chris Davis took over at third and hit a go-ahead, two-run homer to put the Orioles ahead 4-3 in the fifth. Nelson Cruz also hit a two-run homer and Jonathan Schoop (skohp) added a three-run shot as the AL East-leading Birds moved six games ahead of the second-place Blue Jays.
ATLANTA (AP) β Kevin Correia (koh-RAY’-uh) was a winner in his first start with the Los Angeles Dodgers, allowing a run and four hits in six innings of a 6-2 victory in Atlanta. Carl Crawford supported Correia with three hits and two RBIs, including the tiebreaking single in the seventh. The outcome gives the Dodgers a five-game lead over San Francisco and drops the Braves four games behind the NL East-leading Washington Nationals.
UNDATED (AP) β The Milwaukee Brewers were 3-1 winners against the Cubs in Chicago as Yovani Gallardo (yoh-VAH’-nee gy-AHR’-doh) gave up just a run and six hits in seven innings. Mark Reynolds homered and Khris Davis doubled home the tiebreaking run in the seventh to help the Brewers increase their division lead to 2 Β½ games over Pittsburgh in the NL Central. St. Louis is three games behind the Brewer after Giancarlo Stanton belted his National League-leading 30th and 31st homers of the season in Miami’s 6-5 win over the Cardinals.
