St. Petersburg, Fla. ? Johan Santana became the first 17-game winner in the major leagues, allowing two hits over eight scoreless innings Tuesday night as Minnesota beat Tampa Bay, 8-0 – the Twins’ 14th victory in a row over the Devil Rays.

Santana (17-5) struck out 12 and walked one. The left-hander, 8-0 since the All-Star break, retired his first 10 hitters before Delmon Young doubled with one out in the fourth. He then recorded eight straight outs before Young singled to lead off the seventh.

The only other batter to reach base against Santana was B.J. Upton, who drew a two-out walk in the eighth.

Jason Tyner had an RBI double, and Jason Bartlett hit a sacrifice fly off Jae Seo (1-6) during a three-run fourth that put the Twins ahead 3-0. Michael Cuddyer hit an RBI double, and Justin Morneau had a run-scoring triple in a three-run seventh to make it 6-0.

Chicago dropped 11â2 games behind Minnesota in the AL wild-card standings with a loss to the Boston Red Sox, who remained six games behind the Twins.

Red Sox 1, White Sox 0

Boston – David Ortiz returned to the Red Sox lineup, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk.

Ortiz had not played in eight days and was hospitalized for two days last week because of heart palpitations.

Kason Gabbard earned his first major-league victory with seven innings of three-hit ball. Gabbard (1-3) allowed two walks and struck out six.

Mike Timlin pitched two innings for his fourth save. Javier Vazquez (11-9) pitched a three-hitter, struck out 11 and retired his last 13 batters.

Indians 7, Blue Jays 2

Toronto – Andy Marte’s grand slam in the eighth inning snapped a tie.

Down 2-1 in the eighth, the Indians rallied with five runs off reliever Jeremy Accardo (1-1). Marte’s first career bases-loaded homer was the Indians’ team-record 13th slam of the season.

Mariners 4, Tigers 3

Detroit – Joel Pineiro came on after a long rain delay and worked 32â3 innings of perfect relief. Pineiro (8-11) retired all 11 batters he faced when he entered the 3-3 game to start the fifth inning after an 1 hour, 23-minute rain delay. He struck out four.

Rangers 5, Athletics 4

Oakland, Calif. – Mark DeRosa hit a three-run homer, and Michael Young went 4-for-5 with a triple and scored twice, leading Texas over Oakland. Frank Thomas hit his 31st home run of the year.

Angels 5, Orioles 2 (10)

Anaheim, Calif. – Adam Kennedy hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning. Garret Anderson and Reggie Willits opened the 10th with singles against Julio Manon, and Kennedy hit an 0-1 pitch into the right-field seats for his third homer this season.