Orioles miss chance to tie for AL East lead

BOSTON — The Baltimore Orioles ended a successful road trip by wasting an opportunity to climb into a tie for the AL East lead.

Playing for pride: Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa pitches against the Orioles on Sunday in Boston. The Red Sox won 2-1. KYODO

When Ryan Flaherty struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning Sunday, the Red Sox had a 2-1 win and the Orioles headed home after going 6-3 on the journey to Oakland, Seattle and Boston.

Reliever Junichi Tazawa (1-1) earned the win for the Red Sox.

"We needed this one. Obviously, going down to this last stretch every game is looked at as a must win," Adam Jones said. "We had a good road trip. We really, really wanted this one to finish off the road trip, but it happens."

The Orioles remained one game behind the New York Yankees and lead Oakland by one game for the top wild-card spot in the league. The Athletics beat the Yankees 5-4.

"Coming to Boston, take two out of three, I don't care what kind of team we're playing or how we're playing," Baltimore's Mark Reynolds said. "It's always big and we keep wining series and we'll see where we're at here in a week or two."

Yankees 5, Athletics 4

In New York, Cliff Pennington hit a go-ahead single in the sixth inning after a key error by backup shortstop Eduardo Nunez.

Hiroki Kuroda (14-11) took the loss, allowing five runs — four earned — in 5? innings. Ichiro Suzuki finished 1-for-5.

Angels 4, White Sox 1

In Anaheim, Jered Weaver kept the Angels within striking distance in the AL wild-card chase, posting his league-leading 19th victory with a decision over the struggling White Sox.

Twins 10, Tigers 4 (1st)

Twins 2, Tigers 1 (10) (2nd)

In Detroit, Jamey Carroll hit an RBI single in the 10th inning and the Twins beat the Tigers, winning both games of a doubleheader to prevent Detroit from at least tying the Chicago White Sox atop the AL Central.

Detroit closer Jose Valverde (3-4) allowed pinch hitter Denard Span to lead off the extra inning with a single and gave up a one-out, fall-behind single to Carroll.

Indians 15, Royals 4

In Kansas City, Carlos Santana hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Indians routed the Royals in their highest-scoring game of the season.

Rays 3, Blue Jays 0

In St. Petersburg, Florida, B.J. Upton hit his eighth home run in 14 games and Jeremy Hellickson won for the first time in more than a month.

Rangers 3, Mariners 2

In Seattle, Ryan Dempster allowed two runs and six hits over six-plus innings and Mike Napoli and Geovany Soto homered.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cardinals 6, Cubs 3

In Chicago, Kyle Lohse and the short-handed Cardinals won for the sixth time in seven games.

Brewers 6, Nationals 2

In Washington, Jonathan Lucroy had a pair of RBI singles and Milwaukee beat the Nationals.

Norichika Aoki went 0-for-5 for the Brewers.

Braves 2, Phillies 1

In Philadelphia, Tim Hudson tossed two-hit ball over 7? innings to help the Braves move to the brink of a playoff spot.

Pirates 8, Astros 1

In Houston, A.J. Burnett allowed one run in eight innings for his 16th win, and Josh Harrison tied a career high with four hits to jumpstart Pittsburgh's offense in a win over the Astros.

Mets 3, Marlins 2

In New York, Ruben Tejada singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Mets a victory over Miami.

Diamondbacks 10, Rockies 7

In Denver, Aaron Hill hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning to help Arizona to a win against Colorado.

Padres 6, Giants 4

In San Francisco, Yonder Alonso's two-run single in the seventh inning snapped a tie and helped the Padres beat the Giants.

Dodgers 5, Reds 3

In Cincinnati, Adrian Gonzalez hit a pair of solo homers off Homer Bailey, powering the Dodgers to a victory that let them keep pace in the wild-card race.

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