Minneapolis ? Twins manager Ron Gardenhire wasn’t about to take Eric Milton out after the eighth inning, even though the Minnesota starter had thrown about 120 pitches.

“I’m not man enough to try to take the ball away from him,” Gardenhire said. “He would have knocked me out.”

Minnesota's Eric Milton delivers against Chicago. Milton blanked the White Sox, 6-0, Thursday night in Minneapolis.

Milton stayed in to pitch his fourth career shutout and Michael Cuddyer hit his first career grand slam as the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-0, Thursday night.

Milton (13-7), who allowed six runs off 11 hits in his last outing against the White Sox, held Chicago to three hits, striking out 11 and walking none with two wild pitches in Minnesota’s first complete-game shutout of the season.

“I just wanted the opportunity,” Milton said. “He never came down to my end of the bench, so I figured I had the chance to do something.”

White Sox starter Dan Wright (7-9) found himself in trouble in the third, yielding an RBI single to Corey Koskie before Cuddyer’s slam put the Twins up 5-0.

It was Cuddyer’s second major league home run.

Cuddyer, called up from Triple-A Edmonton last month after the Twins traded Brian Buchanan to San Diego, hit a 2-0 fastball from Wright over the left field fence, bringing the crowd of 26,270 to its feet.

“He was throwing well,” Cuddyer said. “His curveball had a lot of bite to it, his fastball had a lot of zip to it. Fortunately I got into a hitter’s count.”

It was all the offensive support Milton needed.

Milton, who came into the game with an 11.57 ERA against the White Sox this season, had nine strikeouts through the first five innings and caught Frank Thomas swinging twice. Chicago had a chance to score in the fifth on Royce Clayton’s ground-rule double and again in the seventh after Thomas advanced to second on a wild pitch with two outs. But Milton struck out Joe Crede to end the seventh.

“His ball had life,” Paul Konerko said.

Angels 2, Yankees 1

Anaheim, Calif. Jarrod Washburn won for the 13th time in 14 decisions as Anaheim regained the lead in the AL wild card race. Brad Fullmer homered for the first time in more than a month, helping the Angels take a one-game lead over Boston. The Yankees remained four games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East.

Coming off a 17-6 drubbing at Texas their most lopsided loss of the season and the worst outing by the pitching staff in more than two years the four-time defending AL champions lost for the fourth time in their last nine games.

Mariners 10, Indians 6

Seattle Ben Davis’ three-run homer capped a six-run sixth inning as first-place Seattle overcame a five-run deficit to beat Cleveland. The Mariners came from behind to win for the fourth straight game in their first meeting with Cleveland since eliminating the Indians in Game 5 of their AL division series last season.

Seattle (67-42) moved a season-high 25 games over .500 and stayed two games in front of Anaheim (64-43) in the AL West.

C.C. Sabathia took a 6-1 lead into the sixth, but couldn’t make it through the inning.

Athletics 5, Tigers 3

Oakland, Calif. Eric Chavez homered twice as Oakland beat Detroit. Miguel Tejada also homered to extend his hitting streak to 21 games best in the AL this season. Ray Durham homered and Chavez drove in three runs as the A’s won for just the third time in nine games.

Tejada’s tied Montreal’s Jose Vidro for the second-longest in the major leagues this year behind Luis Castillo’s 35-game streak for the Florida Marlins.

Hiram Bocachica homered for the Tigers, who lost their fifth straight.

Micah Bowie (1-0) recorded the final two outs in the fifth inning for his first AL victory and his first big league win since Sept. 23, 1999 with the Chicago Cubs. Billy Koch recorded the final four outs for his 27th save in 32 opportunities.

Orioles 4, Devil Rays 3

St. Petersburg, Fla. Chris Richard homered and Sidney Ponson won for the second time in 12 starts as Baltimore beat Tampa Bay. Richard hit his second homer in as many major league games this season a two-run shot in the fifth. He went deep on the first pitch he saw Wednesday night after he was activated from the 60-day disabled list following offseason left shoulder surgery.

Ponson (5-5) allowed two runs over 62/3 innings, allowing four hits. The right-hander is 2-2 in his last 12 starts.

Rangers 19, Red Sox 7

Arlington, Texas Carl Everett hit a grand slam and a three-run homer against the team that traded him last December as Texas routed Boston. Rafael Palmeiro hit his 467th career homer in the eighth inning to pass Willie Stargell and Stan Musial for 20th place on the career list.

Todd Hollandsworth added a three-run homer for his first AL home run, and drove in four runs in his first game for Texas after being acquired from Colorado in a deadline deal Wednesday.