PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Raul Ibanez hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh, Vance Worley pitched seven strong innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox 2-1 on Wednesday night.
In a series billed as a World Series preview, the major league-leading Phillies (51-30) have taken two straight and go for a sweep Thursday.
Worley (3-1) allowed one run and five hits. The rookie right-hander has filled in nicely for injured starters Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton. Michael Stutes pitched a perfect eighth and Antonio Bastardo finished for his third save and first filling in for Ryan Madson.
Boston's John Lackey (5-7) gave up two runs and eight hits in 7 2-3 innings in one of his best starts this season. He lowered his ERA from 7.36 to 6.81.
The Red Sox have lost six of seven since going 14-2.
Yankees 5, Brewers 2
NEW YORK (AP) - A.J. Burnett pitched neatly into the eighth inning, Russell Martin hit a three-run homer and the Yankees kept rolling right along.
Robinson Cano tripled to start a four-run fourth inning and Jorge Posada rounded the bases twice on his solo shot in the sixth, which was changed to a home run after umpires watched the video replay.
Nick Swisher had an RBI single for the Yankees, who have won four straight and 14 of 18 overall. Burnett (8-6) allowed two runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings, and Mariano Rivera got three outs for his 21st save.
Ryan Braun had three singles and an RBI for the Brewers, extending his career-best hitting streak to 19 games. Shaun Marcum (7-3) allowed four runs and five hits in five innings.
Angels 1, Nationals 0
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Dan Haren pitched two-hit ball through 7 1-3 innings and the Angels swept past Davey Johnson's new team.
The 68-year-old Johnson took over the Nationals this week, returning as a major league manager for the first time since 2000. Washington had won 13 of 15 going into the series at Anaheim, with most of the wins coming before manager Jim Riggleman resigned.
The only run came in the fourth inning and was unearned after a throwing error by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Howie Kendrick's double-play grounder drove it in.
Haren (8-5) lowered his ERA to 2.85.
Washington's Jordan Zimmermann (5-7) allowed four hits over eight innings in his first career complete game in 38 starts.
Mets 16, Tigers 9
DETROIT (AP) - Scott Hairston launched a bases-loaded triple and Ronny Paulino contributed four hits as part of another offensive barrage by New York, which beat Detroit.
The Mets set a team record by scoring 52 runs in a four-game span, STATS LLC said. They have 69 hits during their spree.
Tigers utilityman Don Kelly got the final out, becoming the first Detroit position player to pitch since 2000. Smiling and laughing, Justin Verlander high-fived Kelly in the dugout - now the Detroit ace will try to stop the Mets on Thursday afternoon.
Miguel Cabrera hit two of Detroit's five homers. The Mets romped despite not hitting any home runs.
Winner Chris Capuano (7-7) went five-plus innings, giving up five runs and six hits.
Phil Coke (1-8) allowed seven earned and 10 hits in four-plus innings.
White Sox 3, Rockies 2
DENVER (AP) - A.J. Pierzynski drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and Chicago hung on to beat Colorado.
Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko hit singles off Huston Street (0-2) to start the ninth with Quentin getting to third on Konerko's hit. Street struck out Alexei Ramirez before Pierzynski, who had an RBI double earlier, drove a fly ball to right field.
Seth Smith ran in to make the catch but his throw home bounced near the third base line and catcher Chris Iannetta's attempt to snag the ball came up empty, allowing Quentin to cross the plate with the winning run.
Brian Bruney (1-0) got the win. Sergio Santos got three outs - two on strikeouts - for his 16th save in 18 chances.
Reds 4, Rays 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Ryan Hanigan hit a three-run homer off James Shields, leading Cincinnati to the victory.
Hanigan connected with two out in the fourth for his first homer since going deep twice April 3 against Milwaukee.
Shields (8-5) had given up just two runs in his previous three starts, all of which were complete-game wins.
Edinson Volquez (5-3) gave up three runs and four hits in 6 1-3 innings. After Logan Ondrusek and Bill Bray combined for 1 2-3 innings, Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 16th save.
Evan Longoria hit a two-run double and B.J. Upton went deep for Tampa Bay. Upton has four homers in his last six games.
Braves 5, Mariners 3
SEATTLE (AP) - Freddie Freeman knocked around Felix Hernandez for three hits and two RBIs, and Atlanta completed an impressive three-game sweep that included victories over the Mariners' best starting pitchers.
The Braves won for the eighth time in 10 games and picked up their 25th road victory of the season. They handed losses to Hernandez, rookie star Michael Pineda and Erik Bedard during their rare trip to Seattle.
Derek Lowe (4-6) pitched six crisp innings for Atlanta, yielding one run and four hits to earn his first win since May 6 at Philadelphia. The right-hander was 0-3 with a 5.29 ERA in his previous nine starts.
Craig Kimbrel worked the ninth for his 23rd save in 28 chances, including all three games in the sweep.
Dustin Ackley hit a two-run homer for Seattle. Hernandez (8-7) gave up five runs and 10 hits in 7 2-3 innings, finishing with 127 pitches.
Cardinals 5, Orioles 1
BALTIMORE (AP) - Chris Carpenter scattered seven hits for his second complete game of the season and Colby Rasmus homered for St. Louis.
Carpenter (3-7) threw a season-high 132 pitches to win his second straight start following a five-game losing streak. The right-hander struck out five, walked one and surrendered just one extra-base hit - an RBI double to Nick Markakis in the third inning.
Carpenter's other complete game came on May 25, an eight-inning effort in a 3-1 loss at San Diego. The last time he went the distance and earned a victory was Sept. 30, 2010, against Colorado.
Rasmus hit a two-run shot off Chris Jakubauskas (2-1) in the second inning, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead.
Markakis went 2 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games.
Indians 6, Diamondbacks 2
PHOENIX (AP) - Carlos Carrasco pitched seven solid innings to lead Cleveland to the victory in the rubber game of the interleague series.
Orlando Cabrera, who delivered the deciding home run in the series opener, had a season-high four hits. He doubled, scored twice and drove in a run as the Indians won for just the third time in nine games.
Carrasco (8-4) gave up two runs and four hits, struck out seven and walked none. The right-hander is 4-1 with a sparkling 0.98 ERA in his last five starts.
Justin Upton and Stephen Drew homered for Arizona, which has dropped four of five. Zach Duke (1-3) allowed four runs and nine hits in five innings.
Rangers 3, Astros 2
HOUSTON (AP) - Ian Kinsler homered twice for the first time in almost two years and Colby Lewis had another solid start for the Rangers.
Kinsler hit a leadoff homer and also went deep in his next at-bat in the third inning to help Texas to an early 3-0 lead. It was the eighth multihomer game of his career and first since August 2009 against the Yankees.
Lewis (7-7) allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. Neftali Feliz worked the ninth for his 16th save.
Carlos Lee had a solo homer for the Astros, who have dropped five straight and have the worst record in the majors at 28-53. Brett Myers (3-7) gave up three runs in seven innings.
Twins 1, Dodgers 0
MINNEAPOLIS - Scott Baker struck out nine while pitching neatly into the eighth inning and Ben Revere had two hits to help Minnesota get the win.
Baker (6-5) allowed six hits and walked one in 7 1-3 innings, dropping his ERA to 3.15 as the Twins bounced back from a 15-0 drubbing on Monday night to take two of three in the series.
Rubby De La Rosa (3-3) also was impressive, giving up just one run and six hits in seven innings for Los Angeles.
With the tying run on base in the eighth, Glen Perkins fanned Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp to end the inning and Matt Capps finished the seven-hitter to earn his 13th save.
Revere hit a leadoff triple in the first and scored on Tsuyoshi Nishioka's groundout.
Blue Jays 2, Pirates 1
TORONTO (AP) - Yunel Escobar doubled home the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning and Brandon Morrow struck out 10 to lead Toronto to the victory.
Rookie outfielder Eric Thames hit his first career home run for Toronto, a solo shot in the sixth.
Morrow (4-4) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings. It's the fourth time in his career he's fanned at least 10, and the second time this season.
Jason Frasor worked the eighth and Frank Francisco finished in the ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances.
Paul Maholm (4-9) fell to 0-7 in 11 career starts in AL stadiums.
Padres 4, Royals 1
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Rookie Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run single, Tim Stauffer won consecutive starts for the first time this year and San Diego completed its first sweep this season.
The Padres scored four unearned runs with two outs in the third inning thanks to third baseman Mike Moustakas' error on a sun ball.
San Diego has won four straight and seven of eight. It went 5-1 against Atlanta and Kansas City for its first winning homestand of 2011.
Stauffer (4-5) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings to lower his ERA to 2.97. Heath Bell pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.
Kansas City's Bruce Chen (4-2) gave up four runs, none earned, and eight hits in six innings.
National League
Cubs 2, Giants 1
CHICAGO (AP) - Pinch-hitter Aramis Ramirez singled in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs snapped the Giants' seven-game winning streak.
Sergio Romo (3-1) gave up an infield single to leadoff batter Tony Campana, who moved to second on Reed Johnson's sacrifice. After a groundout moved him to third, Ramirez hit an 0-2 pitch into left to win it.
San Francisco's Emmanuel Burris hit a tying RBI single off closer Carlos Marmol (2-2) in the top of the ninth after Cubs starter Ryan Dempster shut out the Giants on two hits for eight innings.
San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum struck out nine in seven innings, yielding one run and five hits.
Marlins 3, Athletics 0
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Ricky Nolasco pitched a five-hitter, Hanley Ramirez and Logan Morrison homered and slumping Florida showed signs of life in a win against Oakland.
Nolasco (4-5) overcame a shaky start for his first win in more than a month, which came the last time the Marlins were in the Bay Area against San Francisco. He struck out three and walked two for his fifth career complete game.
The homers by Ramirez and Morrison off starter Guillermo Moscoso (2-4) were the first by Florida in eight days. The Marlins improved to 4-23 in June, by far the worst month in franchise history.
Oakland was held scoreless for the ninth time this season.