Arlington, Texas ? Troy Glaus kept fouling off Francisco Cordero’s best pitches. Glaus hit the mistake out of the park and helped put Anaheim back in sole possession of first place in the AL West. The Angels won, 8-7, in 11 innings Wednesday night, ending the Texas Rangers’ surprising playoff chase.

Glaus’ two-run homer came on the 10th pitch of his at-bat. It was the first long ball allowed by Cordero in 66 appearances this season.

“He kept fouling pitches off, and then I threw a hanging slider,” said Cordero, who had blown a save by giving up a ninth-inning run with two outs.

“I don’t think you’ll see a much better at-bat,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “There was a battler on the mound and a battler at the plate. He made a mistake, and Troy didn’t miss it.”

Anaheim (90-68) had moved back into first place for the first time since June 8 by winning the first two games in Texas. The tie with Oakland (89-69) was broken when the Athletics lost to Seattle later Wednesday night.

The Angels finish their series today in Texas before a season-ending three-game set at Oakland this weekend.

Darin Erstad reached on a one-out single and then scored on Glaus’ homer to center, his 18th of the season and 33rd in his career against the Rangers.

“I was just trying to get on base for the big guys behind me,” Glaus said.

Texas (86-72) lost its fourth straight game and fifth of six since sweeping three games from the Athletics last week. The Rangers spent most of July in first place and were a surprise contender after four straight last-place finishes when they averaged 90 losses a season.

“Tonight was kind of a microcosm of the season,” first baseman Mark Teixeira said. “We were up, we were down and in the end we just couldn’t pull it out. I guess you can look at our whole season that way. We had a good season, just couldn’t pull it out in the end.”

Scot Shields (8-2) pitched two shutout innings for the win, and Troy Percival pitched the 11th for his 32nd save in 37 chances.

Eric Young tripled off Percival and scored on Hank Blalock’s sacrifice fly, cutting it to 8-7.

Mariners 4, Athletics 2

Oakland, Calif. — Ichiro Suzuki had one hit and plenty of help in knocking Oakland out of first place. Suzuki’s fifth-inning single gave him 255 hits, two shy of George Sisler’s 84-year-old major-league record, and Seattle sent the Athletics into second place in the AL West for the first time since Aug. 5.

Suzuki has four games remaining to get the record.

The leadoff hitter was booed when he stepped into the batter’s box in the first inning, then walked on a full count. He struck out swinging in the third, then hit an infield single to shortstop in the fifth.

Yankees 5-5, Twins 3-4

New York — With a doubleheader sweep of Minnesota, New York moved to the verge of clinching its seventh straight AL East title. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez rallied the Yankees to a victory over the AL Central champions in the opener. Jon Lieber then won his 100th career game and fifth consecutive decision in the nightcap.

Devil Rays 9, Red Sox 4

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Tampa Bay claimed a victory over Pedro Martinez (16-9), who has lost four straight starts for the first time with the Red Sox. Tino Martinez added a three-run homer in the eighth inning off Alan Embree for Tampa Bay, which won for just the fifth time in 19 games.

White Sox 11, Tigers 2

Detroit — Carlos Lee hit a grand slam and a two-run homer, and Freddy Garcia pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Chicago past Detroit. Ross Gload hit a two-run homer, and Joe Borchard and Juan Uribe added solo home runs for the White Sox, who need to win one of their final four games at Kansas City this weekend to avoid their first losing season since 1999.

Orioles 7-4, Blue Jays 6-0

Baltimore — Rick Bauer pitched six innings of three-hit ball, and Baltimore completed a doubleheader sweep of Toronto with a 4-0 victory. In the opener, Rafael Palmeiro hit two homers and watched Miguel Tejada break his single-season club record for RBIs in a 7-6 win.