Angels’ Escobar logs 18th victory

Angels 3, Athletics 2

Oakland, Calif. – The Angels already locked up the AL West and know they are headed to Boston to open the first round of the playoffs.

So with manager Mike Scioscia resting many of his banged-up regulars, Kelvim Escobar earned his career-best 18th victory, and Los Angeles still won at Oakland. It was the defending division champion Athletics’ fifth straight defeat and 10th in 11 games.

Juan Rivera and Erick Aybar each hit RBI singles, and Jeff Mathis added a sacrifice fly for the Angels, who saw Bartolo Colon make his first relief appearance in 10 years.

Colon came out of the bullpen for only the third time in his career and first since Sept. 27, 1997, against Minnesota in the first game of a doubleheader with the Twins. He pitched twice in relief that year.

Francisco Rodriguez finished for his 40th save and second in as many games.

Red Sox 6, Twins 4

Boston – J.D. Drew connected for a go-ahead, three-run homer. Continuing his surge after a long slump, Drew lined a full-count pitch from Nick Blackburn into the right-center-field stands.

Drew singled in the second, tripled and scored in the fourth and finished 3-for-4 with his 11th homer. He is batting .393 in his last 18 games.

Yankees 11, Orioles 10

Baltimore – Shelley Duncan homered to cap a 10-run fourth inning, and a host of New York backups feasted on Baltimore pitching.

The Yankees trailed 6-1 before nine straight batters reached to open the fourth. Duncan, Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano each had two RBIs in the inning.

Because New York already had clinched the wild card and was out of the AL East race, Yankees manager Joe Torre rested shortstop Derek Jeter, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and outfielders Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui.

Mariners 5, Rangers 1

Seattle – Miguel Batista limited Texas to three hits in eight innings, and Jose Guillen went 4-for-4.

Batista (16-11) struck out five, walked two and won his third straight decision. He retired 15 of 16 batters over one stretch and allowed only one hit after the second inning. Raul Ibanez hit a solo homer and drove in two runs for Seattle, which finished with 11 hits.

Blue Jays 5, Devil Rays 3

Toronto – Adam Lind hit a three-run homer, and John-Ford Griffin added a solo shot.

White Sox 3, Tigers 2

Chicago – Jim Thome hit career homer No. 507, and Juan Uribe singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.