Melvin Mora homered and drove in three runs, rookie Brian Matusz earned his third straight win, and the Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4, yesterday in Baltimore.
Mora hit a solo homer in the second inning, a two-out RBI single in the third, and snapped a 4-all tie with a two-out single in the fifth. Besides his sparkling performance at the plate, the third baseman also made an outstanding catch of a foul bunt by Ian Kinsler in the eighth inning.
David Murphy homered for the Rangers, denied their first five-game winning streak since July 19-24. Texas did not get a hit after the third inning and remained two games behind the Red Sox for the AL wild card.
Kevin Millwood (10-9) gave up five runs, seven hits and four walks in five innings.
Making his seventh big league start, Matusz (4-2) allowed four runs and six hits in seven innings. The lefthander faced the minimum 12 batters over his final four innings; the lone batter to reach, Elvis Andrus on a walk, was thrown out trying to steal.
Matusz struck out four and walked one. Danys Baez worked the eighth and Jim Johnson got three outs for his eighth save. The Orioles broke a four-game losing streak.
Yankees 6, Blue Jays 4 - Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano homered to help Andy Pettitte win his fourth straight start as visiting New York beat Toronto.
Pettitte (13-6) allowed four runs and four hits in six innings. The lefthander is unbeaten in eight starts.
David Robertson worked the seventh, Brian Bruney got two outs in the eighth. Phil Hughes closed it out for his third save.
Cardinals 2, Pirates 1 - Albert Pujols led off the 10th inning with his second career pinch-hit home run, and visiting St. Louis withstood Ross Ohlendorf’s dominating start to leave Pittsburgh one loss short of an unwanted record.
The Pirates lost their ninth in a row and, with one more loss, would become the first team in any of the four major American pro sports to have 17 consecutive losing seasons.
Rockies 4, Diamondbacks1 - Jose Contreras, acquired Monday from the White Sox for a minor league pitcher, pitched 6 2/3 solid innings to lead host Colorado past Arizona. The Rockies maintained their one-game lead over San Francisco in the NL wild-card race.
Dodgers 7, Padres 4 - In Los Angeles, Andre Ethier homered and doubled home a run to help Randy Wolf get his 100th major league victory.
Tigers 8, Rays 6 - Pinch hitter Marcus Thames came through with a tiebreaking single during a two-run eighth inning and Alex Avila had a two-run homer as visiting Detroit overcame a three-run deficit to win its fifth straight.
Astros 5, Phillies 4 - Kaz Matsui’s bases-loaded single drove in two runs in the bottom of the ninth to lift Houston over Philadelphia.
Angels 2, Royals 1 - Erick Aybar had three hits, including a tiebreaking RBI single in the 11th inning for Los Angeles in Kansas City.
Giants 3, Brewers 2 - Matt Cain outpitched Yovani Gallardo for his first win in more than six weeks for visiting San Francisco.
Cubs 5, Mets 3 - Derrek Lee homered twice and drove in three runs in his return to the lineup, leading Rich Harden and visiting Chicago past New York.
Reds 3, Braves 1 - Joey Votto hit a two-run homer and Kip Wells pitched six innings of one-hit ball to extend visiting Cincinnati’s winning streak to a season-high six.
Twins 4, Indians 1 - Scott Baker won his seventh straight decision, striking out four and walking four while throwing 100 pitches for Minnesota in Cleveland.
Marlins 9, Nationals 5 - Hanley Ramirez homered, Josh Johnson earned his 14th win, and Florida handed host Washington its season-high eighth consecutive loss.
Athletics 9, Mariners 5 - Cliff Pennington hit a two-run homer to help host Oakland beat Seattle.
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