Rays take down White Sox

Homer barrage gives Tampa series opener

Tampa Bay's Willy Aybar cracks a broken-bat double in the second inning against Chicago in the Rays' victory. (NAM Y. HUH/Associated Press)

Rocco Baldelli hit his first homer in more than a year, Carlos Peña and Ben Zobrist also went deep, and the Tampa Bay Rays opened a weekend showdown in Chicago with a 9-4 victory over the White Sox last night.

Chicago's Nick Swisher homered in his fourth straight game, giving the White Sox a 2-0 lead with a two-run shot in the fourth, but the Rays came back.

Peña tied it at 2 with a leadoff homer in the sixth, and Jason Bartlett doubled in the go-ahead run off John Danks in the seventh, sending Tampa Bay to its eighth win in 11 games.

The Rays maintained a 4 1/2-game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East, and they continued to win even though Troy Percival, Evan Longoria, and Carl Crawford are on the disabled list.

The White Sox had won eight of nine and had a 46-9 scoring edge over the previous four games while pounding out 14 homers - but they were victimized by the long ball this time.

One of the big blows came from Baldelli, who returned from the DL less than two weeks ago.

Sidelined for the first 116 games with a muscular disorder after missing much of last season with hamstring injuries, Baldelli drove an 0-and-1 pitch over the left-field wall off Octavio Dotel for his first homer since May 3, 2007, against Minnesota.

Twins 9, Angels 0 - Glen Perkins pitched eight innings and Denard Span and Delmon Young homered for Minnesota, which took over first place in the AL Central with a victory in Anaheim, Calif.

The win was the fourth straight and ninth in 11 games for the Twins, who moved a half-game ahead of the White Sox.

Perkins (11-3) held Los Angeles to five hits, struck out three, and walked two on the way to winning his fourth consecutive decision. Dennys Reyes pitched the ninth to complete Minnesota's ninth shutout.

Nationals 13, Cubs 5 - Willie Harris hit his first career grand slam and a two-run homer, and Washington overcame a four-run deficit to win in Chicago.

Harris hit his slam off reliever Neal Cotts to cap a six-run sixth inning that put the Nationals ahead, 6-4. He added a two-run shot in the ninth off Chad Gaudin for his first multihomer game in the majors.

Phillies 8, Dodgers 1 - Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Chris Coste each hit home runs, and Philadelphia pounded Greg Maddux in his first start for visiting Los Angeles.

Maddux, who was traded from San Diego Tuesday, allowed seven runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Brewers 10, Pirates 4 - Mike Cameron homered to cap a six-run seventh, Dave Bush (8-9) tossed seven sharp innings, and host Milwaukee shook off a slow start for a come-from-behind victory over Pittsburgh.

Tigers 4, Royals 3 - Miguel Cabrera hit two home runs and Justin Verlander (10-13) pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings as Detroit defeated host Kansas City.

Indians 7, Rangers 5 - Fausto Carmona (6-5) pitched six strong innings and Ryan Garko had a two-run double as visiting Cleveland continued its late-season surge with a victory over stumbling Texas.

Mariners 7, Athletics 5 - Rookie Jeff Clement had two run-scoring doubles to help host Seattle break its seven-game losing streak with a victory over Oakland.

Reds 8, Rockies 5 - Brandon Phillips homered and Aaron Harang pitched out of a bases-loaded jam to get his first win in more than two months as Cincinnati routed Colorado in Denver.

Cardinals 18, Braves 3 - Adam Wainwright (7-3) worked six dominant innings in his first start since early June, and Albert Pujols had three hits and three RBIs in host St. Louis's victory over sagging Atlanta.

Giants 5, Padres 0 - Tim Lincecum pitched eight innings to earn his 14th victory of the year and Travis Ishikawa hit a three-run homer as host San Francisco shut out San Diego.

Marlins 5, Diamondbacks 4 - Cody Ross hit a solo home run and Wes Helms added a tying sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, helping Florida rally past Arizona in Phoenix.

Mets 3, Astros 0 - Johan Santana (12-7) allowed eight hits in seven innings, and host New York took advantage of two mistakes made by Roy Oswalt, a wild pitch and a home run by Brian Schneider, to shut out Houston.