ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Yunel Escobar and Ben Zobrist homered during a three-run seventh inning and the surging Tampa Bay Rays beat the Minnesota Twins 7-4 on Monday night.
Escobar had a leadoff tie-breaking homer in the seventh off Samuel Deduno (4-4), who departed after Desmond Jennings followed with a triple. Caleb Thielbar entered and got one out before Zobrist gave Tampa Bay a 6-3 lead with a two-run shot.
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Alex Torres (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh for the Rays, who have won 9 of 10 and moved to a season-best 10 games (50-40) over .500. Escobar also had a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
ROYALS 5, YANKEES 1: Jeremy Guthrie (8-6) neatly handled a nemesis and a long rain delay to pitch into the seventh inning, Billy Butler homered and Kansas City won at New York.
All-Star Alex Gordon, David Lough and Johnny Giavotella each had RBI doubles, and Alcides Escobar added a run-scoring triple to help the Royals end a five-game skid against New York.
RANGERS 8, ORIOLES 5: Ian Kinsler capped a six-run sixth inning with a bases-loaded double, and visiting Texas beat Baltimore in a rematch of last year’s AL wild-card game.
The victory out the Rangers 15 games over .500 (52-37) for the first time since May 25.
Kinsler had four RBI, including three in the sixth against former teammate Scott Feldman (0-1) when the Rangers turned a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 lead.
TIGERS 4, INDIANS 2: Max Scherzer remained unbeaten and Victor Martinez hit a two-run double in the 10th inning as Detroit extended its lead in the AL Central with a win at Cleveland.
Martinez’s double came off Matt Albers (2-1) as the Tigers won 3 of 4 in the series and moved to 3½ games ahead of the Indians in the division.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PHILLIES 3, NATIONALS 2: John Lannan tossed four-hit ball over eight innings against his former team and Ben Revere had three hits as Philadelphia won at home.
Lannan (2-3) had four strikeouts in his longest outing in four years.
BRAVES 7, MARLINS 1: Justin Upton broke a tie by driving in two runs when he doubled in a six-run 14th inning as Atlanta won at Miami.
Seven relievers for the two teams combined to retire 30 straight batters from the eighth to the 13th inning.
BREWERS 4, REDS 3: Carlos Gomez robbed Joey Votto of a potential go-ahead homer with a spectacular catch in center field in the ninth inning, saving Milwaukee’s win at home.
INTERLEAGUE
ATHLETICS 2, PIRATES 1: Bartolo Colon allowed one run over seven innings and visiting Oakland won for the ninth time in 12 games.
The 40-year-old Colon (12-3) shook off a tough-luck 3-1 defeat in his previous start to win for the ninth time in his last 10 outings.
He outdueled Jeff Locke (8-2), who had a personal eight-game winning streak snapped.
Colon moved into a tie for second in the majors in victories, and has the second-most wins by a 40-year-old in A’s history.
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