Teixeira propels Rangers
Cliff Lee won his seventh straight decision and the Indians hit for the cycle on the first nine pitches they saw in a 12-4 rout of the Minnnesota Twins last night in Cleveland, stretching their winning streak to seven games.
Cleveland had 17 hits to win for the 18th time in 23 games and maintain its 1 1/2-game lead over the Yankees in the wild-card race. The Indians also pulled within 5 1/2 games of first-place Chicago in the Central.
Coco Crisp tied a career high with four hits, Ronnie Belliard hit a three-run homer, Victor Martinez added a two-run shot, and Grady Sizemore had a solo homer among his three hits, three runs, and three RBIs for Cleveland.
Lee (16-4), unbeaten in his last 11 starts, allowed two runs and four hits over six innings.
Rangers 7, A's 4 -- Mark Teixeira hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer that made him the major league RBI leader and host Texas dropped Oakland to third place in the wild-card chase.
Teixeira's career-best 39th homer, his fifth in seven games, gave Texas a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning. It increased the All-Star first baseman's RBI total to 125, two more than David Ortiz.
The A's are 2 1/2 games behind the Indians.
Angels 6, White Sox 1 -- John Lackey pitched seven shutout innings, and Los Angeles hit three first-inning homers en route to completing a three-game sweep in Chicago.
Chone Figgins led off the game with a homer, and Garret Anderson and Darin Erstad followed with shots off Orlando Hernandez.
Orioles 6, Mariners 3 -- Bruce Chen overcame a shaky start to pitch six solid innings and Baltimore roughed up rookie phenom Felix Hernandez at Seattle.
The 19-year-old Hernandez, who had a 1.59 ERA through his first seven starts, gave up five runs in the second. Bernie Castro and Melvin Mora each drove in two.
Devil Rays 6, Blue Jays 5 -- At St. Petersburg, Fla., Travis Lee hit a tying infield single with two outs in the ninth, then drove in the winning run on an 11th-inning grounder to help Tampa Bay rally past Toronto.
Tigers 14, Royals 4 -- Placido Polanco had four hits, including a home run, to power an 18-hit attack that carried host Detroit past Kansas City.
