Arlington, Texas ? Jose Contreras was downright nasty. His splitter was diving, his slider was breaking and the Texas Rangers were swinging and missing.

Contreras won his 15th straight decision with a nearly dominant performance Monday night, striking out a career-high 11 without a walk and pitching the Chicago White Sox to an 8-3 victory.

“I felt that this was my best start of the year,” Contreras said through a translator. “I had everything working, including the split, slider, changeup … in and out, up and down, throwing strikes.”

Contreras (7-0), who hasn’t lost in the regular season since last Aug. 15, threw 75 of his 108 pitches for strikes over eight innings. The right-hander allowed three runs and six hits, with the AL West-leading Rangers scoring all their runs in a four-batter span in the fifth.

He tied the franchise record for consecutive wins set by LaMarr Hoyt (1983-84) and Wilson Alvarez (1993-94). Contreras’ streak is also the longest in the majors since Minnesota lefty Johan Santana won 17 decisions in a row from July 2004 to April 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“I’ve never been around a streak like that,” Chicago catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “It’s good to see.”

Chicago White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras walks to the dugout after the final out in the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers. Contreras struck out 11 in an 8-3 White Sox victory.

Contreras won his final eight starts last season, and has made 11 starts this year.

“It’s tough to pick up his pitches with all the arm angles and it breaks at the last second,” Rangers shortstop Michael Young said. “The ball moves all over the place.”

Contreras’ previous career high of 10 strikeouts came with the New York Yankees, against the Mets on June 27, 2004.

“When he gets pitches for strikes, he’s one of the best pitchers in the game,” said manager Ozzie Guillen, who will pick the starting AL pitcher for the All-Star game next month. “He responded real well.”

Texas had only an infield single by Young before its scoring spurt. Contreras retired 10 of his last 12 batters after that.

“In that inning, I left my pitches a little bit high, but I felt very strong the whole way,” he said.

Contreras retired his first 10 batters, with five strikeouts, before Young’s infield single with one out in the fourth.

“The first at-bat, I had no chance. His slider was really biting. He had great stuff,” Rangers catcher Rod Barajas said. “He’d throw a split in the 70s and then throw something in the 90s. He had us off balance.”

Orioles 6, Blue Jays 4

Toronto – Ramon Hernandez homered and Baltimore’s Kris Benson beat Toronto for the third time this season.

Alex Rios homered twice for the Blue Jays, who dropped their third straight – matching their longest skid of the year.

Brian Roberts hit a two-run triple and Nick Markakis added a two-run single off rookie starter Casey Janssen. Hernandez’s solo shot against Scott Schoeneweis in the seventh gave the Orioles a 6-3 lead.

Benson (7-5) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, winning for the first time in five starts and improving to 3-1 in four outings against the Blue Jays this season.

Tigers 4, Devil Rays 3 (13)

Detroit – Curtis Granderson’s RBI single scored Brandon Inge in the 13th inning to give Detroit a win over Tampa Bay.

Brian Meadows (1-1) entered in the 11th, and it looked as though he was about to get his second out in the 13th when shortstop Julio Lugo made a throwing error on Inge’s grounder. Inge reached second and Granderson followed with a single to center.

Tampa Bay blew a two-run lead in the ninth inning.

Before the Tigers batted in the ninth, there was a 5-minute delay because many of the lights in the outfield went out.

Then, Detroit turned it on at the plate.

Todd Jones (1-4) pitched two innings for the win, giving up only one hit.