Rays hold off Angels

Floyd, Hinske lift Tampa Bay

Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske hit two-run homers for Tampa Bay, helping Andy Sonnanstine get his 13th win in a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels last night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The first-place Rays won for the eighth time in 10 games, holding off the team with baseball's best record despite another baserunning gaffe by B.J. Upton, who has been benched three times in the past two weeks for not hustling.

The speedy center fielder was caught jogging on the bases again and thrown out at second on what should have been a routine double. But unlike last Friday in Texas, Upton wasn't removed from the game by manager Joe Maddon.

"That's a mental mistake he made right there. It's not a lack of effort," Maddon said, explaining why he didn't take action.

"It's one of those situations where he assumed. We've talked about assumptions. That's an assumption on his part. That's part of his game we've got to get rid of."

Sonnanstine (13-6) allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings to pull within one victory of the Rays' record for a season. Rolando Arrojo won 14 in 1998, and Sonnanstine's total matches the 13 Scott Kazmir won a year ago.

Dan Wheeler, the sixth Tampa Bay pitcher, worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save in seven opportunities, enabling the Rays to maintain their 4 1/2-game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East.

Hinske hit his 19th homer in the second and Floyd added his ninth in the third, both coming off righthander Jon Garland (11-8), who allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings.

Pirates 5, Mets 2 - Steve Pearce hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and host Pittsburgh ended New York's six-game winning streak.

Adam LaRoche homered and Jack Wilson hit a two-run double as the Pirates stopped a four-game losing skid.

Jerry Manuel was ejected for the fourth time as Mets manager for arguing a call on the bases in the third inning.

Brewers 9, Astros 3 - CC Sabathia improved his perfect record with host Milwaukee, pitching another complete game in a victory over Houston.

Sabathia also hit a two-run single in a five-run fourth inning. He is 8-0 with a 1.60 ERA and five complete games in nine starts for the Brewers since they acquired him from Cleveland in a July 7 trade.

White Sox 13, Mariners 5 - Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer and Orlando Cabrera started a six-run fifth inning with another two-run shot to help host Chicago beat Seattle.

Rookie Alexei Ramirez hit a three-run homer and Jermaine Dye doubled twice and drove in two runs for the White Sox.

Athletics 3, Twins 2 - Kirk Saarloos pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings after Justin Duchscherer left with a hip injury and visiting Oakland beat Minnesota.

Duchscherer threw 36 pitches and was ahead, 1-0, when he left with two outs. Mark Ellis homered and Kurt Suzuki had two RBIs for Oakland, which got a nice effort from Saarloos after he was called up from Triple A Sacramento earlier in the day to bolster a struggling bullpen. Tigers 8, Rangers 7 - Gary Sheffield hit career homer No. 492, Curtis Granderson had two triples and four RBIs, and visiting Detroit held on for a victory over Texas. Sheffield moved into a tie with Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for 25th on the career home run list.

Giants 5, Braves 0 - Barry Zito won for just the third time since the All-Star break, pitching seven shutout innings during visiting San Francisco's win over Atlanta.