DETROIT ? When Eddie Guardado first joined the Minnesota Twins in 1993, Rick Aguilera helped him adjust to life in the big leagues.

Guardado is fitting in fine. He set a Twins record Wednesday night with his 43rd save, preserving Minnesota’s 2-0 victory against the Detroit Tigers.

Detroit shortstop Ramon Santiago, right, steals second base under a late tag by Minnesota shortstop Denny Hocking during Wednesday's game in Detroit. The Twins beat the Tigers, 2-0.

Guardado tied the record set by Jeff Reardon (1988) and Aguilera (1991) the previous night.

“Aggie was right there with me and he showed me the ropes and what to expect in the big leagues,” Guardado said.

“Everyday Eddie” saved the victory for Joe Mays, who allowed three hits in six innings.

“I’ve been with Eddie for a long time,” said Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire, a Twins coach from 1991 until last season. “I saw him when he first came up as a kid. I liked his attitude. I liked the way he has no fear. Just, ‘Give me the ball.”‘

Mays (4-7), a native of nearby Flint, struck out two and walked one as he continued his dominance of the team from his home state.

The right-hander is now 9-3 against the Tigers with a 2.24 ERA. He’s also 7-0 in his last nine starts against Detroit.

“I got lucky tonight,” Mays said. “Just tried to sink the ball.”

Mays missed three months because of inflammation in his right elbow. In his first start after coming off the disabled list on July 20, he beat Detroit 14-4.

“He’s one of those pitchers who knows how to pitch,” Detroit first baseman Carlos Pena said. “He uses his stuff to his advantage and he makes the right pitch.”

Steve Sparks (8-16) allowed two runs on eight hits in eight innings.

Minnesota scored in the first inning on Matthew LeCroy’s RBI single and on Luis Rivas’ RBI double in the eighth.

The Tigers’ best chance to score came when Pena walked and Robert Fick singled to lead off the seventh, but Hiram Bocachica fouled out to first attempting to bunt and Eric Munson and Chris Truby both struck out.

Detroit loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Fick popped out to short.

Yankees 7, Devil Rays 1

St. Petersburg, Fla. Jeff Weaver pitched 72â3 strong innings in place of the ill David Wells, and Alfonso Soriano picked up his 200th hit of the season as the New York Yankees beat Tampa Bay.

Jason Giambi hit his 38th homer for the Yankees, who cut their magic number to two.

Weaver (10-11) allowed one run and six hits after Wells was scratched because of a stomach virus.

Soriano went 2-of-5, including a pair of RBI singles. He is the first Yankees player to reach 200 hits since Derek Jeter in 2000.

Soriano remains one homer short of becoming the fourth player to have 40 homers and 40 steals in the same season. Soriano hit his 39th homer in Tuesday’s 9-7 loss to Tampa Bay.

Victor Zambrano (6-8) gave up four runs and five hits in five innings.

Athletics 7, Angels 4

Oakland, Calif. Barry Zito got his league-leading 22nd victory and Ray Durham hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer, helping Oakland move into a tie for the AL West lead with Anaheim.

Eric Chavez and Jermaine Dye hit back-to-back homers to nearly the same spot in center field off Mickey Callaway (1-1) in Oakland’s six-run fourth. Durham hit his shot to left-center off reliever Dennis Cook later in the inning.

Indians 6, Red Sox 4

Boston Pinch-hitter Earl Snyder reached on one error and scored on another, breaking an eighth-inning tie and helping Cleveland rally from a 4-0 deficit.

Cleveland took advantage of four Red Sox errors to score twice in the seventh and three times in the eighth.

David Riske (2-2) pitched one inning, and Alan Embree (0-2) was the loser, giving up three runs, two of them earned. Danny Baez pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Blue Jays 2, Orioles 1

Baltimore Roy Halladay (17-7) allowed seven hits in seven shutout innings, and Carlos Delgado homered.

Baltimore’s Mike Bordick extended his run of errorless games to 100, one short of Rey Ordonez’s major-league record for shortstops.

Kelvim Escobar got three outs for his 35th save. Sean Douglass (0-4) allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings.