Twins 11, Rays 8

St. Petersburg, Fla. – Alexi Casilla homered in Minnesota’s five-run ninth inning, and the Twins rallied for an 11-8 victory over Tampa Bay on Thursday that ended a four-game losing streak and pulled them within 11â2 games of the Chicago in the AL Central.

The White Sox lost 9-2 at New York.

Evan Longoria had three home runs for Tampa Bay, which had its AL East lead over idle Boston trimmed to 11â2 games

Yankees 9, White Sox 2

New York – Bobby Abreu homered twice and drove in six runs, and Mike Mussina kept up his hopes for a 20-win season for New York. The AL Central-leading White Sox have lost seven of 11 and their division lead was cut to 11â2 games over second-place Minnesota.

Angels 6, Athletics 4

Oakland, Calif. – Kendry Morales, Mike Napoli and Brandon Wood hit consecutive home runs in a span of four pitches from Keith Foulke in the seventh inning for Los Angeles.

The AL West champion Angels avoided a three-game sweep.

Blue Jays 3, Orioles 2

Toronto – Jose Bautista homered in the first inning.

Royals 12, Mariners 0

Kansas City, Mo. – Zack Greinke combined with two pitchers on a three-hitter, and Mike Aviles hit a three-run homer as Kansas City completed its first four-game sweep of Seattle in 19 years.

The Royals led 9-0 after four innings, roughing up Ryan Feierabend (1-4) on its way to its first four-game sweep of the Mariners since Aug. 17-20, 1989, in Seattle. It was the Royals’ first four-game sweep of anyone since taking a home series against Detroit from Sept. 19-21, 2005.

Greinke (12-10) went seven-plus innings and struck out seven.