Rays survive 5-run late rally by Yankees

Scott Kazmir did his part to get the Tampa Bay Rays back on track.

The All-Star lefthander allowed one hit in six scoreless innings, and the Rays' bullpen weathered ninth-inning home runs by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to beat the Yankees, 7-5, and avoid a three-game sweep last night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Willy Aybar homered and drove in three runs for the AL East leaders, who avoided a three-game sweep and extended their lead in the division over second-place Boston to 3 1/2 games.

The Yankees' slim playoff hopes were dealt another blow. They trail the Rays by 11 games in the division and Boston by 7 1/2 in the wild-card race.

"It's good to keep them in our rearview mirror because they've played well against us," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "To lose three in a row here would not have been any fun at all."

Kazmir (11-6) limited the Yankees to Cody Ransom's fifth-inning double, walked five, and struck out seven, but a high pitch count (98) prevented him from going deeper into the game. Ransom also singled off reliever Trever Miller in the seventh for New York's second hit.

Chad Bradford worked a scoreless eighth but Tampa Bay lost its bid for its 13th shutout of the season in the ninth when Jason Hammel gave up an RBI single to Ransom, who finished 3 for 3, and home runs to Jeter and Rodriguez.

Blue Jays 9, Twins 0 - Jesse Litsch threw a four-hit shutout and host Toronto swept Minnesota for its fifth straight victory.

Litsch (10-8) walked two and struck out three and is 2-1 with a 0.94 ERA in four starts since being recalled from Triple A Aug. 14.

Travis Snider hit his first career home run and went 3 for 3 with two RBIs to help Toronto beat Minnesota for the ninth straight meeting.

The Twins, who have lost 9 of 12, fell 5 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the AL wild-card race.

Angels 7, Tigers 1 - Torii Hunter homered to back Ervin Santana, and Los Angeles won in Detroit to cut its magic number to six for clinching its fourth AL West title in five seasons.

Santana (15-5) struck out eight in 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run and six hits. He is 4-0 in seven starts since July 27.

Royals sweep Athletics, 5-4, 9-6 - Jose Guillen drove in three runs, Kyle Davies ended a four-game losing streak, and host Kansas City swept Oakland in a doubleheader.

The Royals jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second game and finished with 15 hits.

Defensive replacement Joey Gathright had a run-scoring single in the 10th to lead the Royals in the opener.

Padres 5, Brewers 2 - Will Venable hit his first career homer and visiting San Diego handed slumping Milwaukee its fourth straight loss. Nick Hundley and Luis Rodriguez each drove in two runs for San Diego, which had lost nine straight on the road.

Braves 2, Nationals 0 - James Parr tossed six sharp innings in his major league debut, and host Atlanta beat Washington.

Reds 8, Pirates 6 - Joey Votto hit a solo homer and a tiebreaking, bases-loaded single in the eighth inning, completing host Cincinnati's rally from a five-run deficit.