SEATTLE (AP) - Mariano Rivera earned his 600th save, moving within one of Trevor Hoffman's major league record, by closing out the New York Yankees' 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
Rivera entered with a one-run lead in the ninth inning and allowed just a one-out single to Ichiro Suzuki. He was retired when catcher Russell Martin caught Suzuki trying to steal second for the final out.
Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter put the tag on Suzuki and smiled as he brought the souvenir ball to Rivera. One by one, New York players lined up to hug Rivera and give him high-fives near the mound.
Robinson Cano provided the Yankees offense with a homer and two RBIs, while A.J. Burnett (10-11) won for the first time since Aug. 15 thanks to a season-high 11 strikeouts. New York stayed four games in front of second-place Boston in the AL East after the Red Sox thumped Toronto.
Seattle starter Charlie Furbush (3-9) allowed three runs and struck out six in 5 1-3 innings.
Red Sox 18, Blue Jays 6
BOSTON (AP) - Tim Wakefield earned his 200th win on his eighth try, Dustin Pedroia hit two homers in Boston's highest-scoring game of the season and the Red Sox ended a five-game losing streak with a rout of Toronto.
The Red Sox needed the victory badly after their AL wild-card lead over Tampa Bay had dropped from nine games to three over the previous nine days. And the 45-year-old knuckleballer was eager to end the long wait - 0-3 in seven outings since his last win July 24 - to become the 108th pitcher with 200 wins.
Wakefield (7-6) went six innings and retired his final six batters. He left with a 6-5 lead.
The crowd at Fenway Park clapped and chanted "Wakefield! Wakefield!" as Junichi Tazawa pitched the ninth for Boston, which moved four games in front of the Rays. Tampa Bay lost at Baltimore.
Pedroia, who was 4 for 5 with two doubles, hit his 20th homer and tied a career high with five RBIs. He was on the tail end of consecutive homers with Jacoby Ellsbury in the fourth.
Ellsbury also had four hits and Carl Crawford had three as Boston finished with 18.
Jose Bautista hit his major league-high 42nd homer and J.P. Arencibia had a three-run shot for Toronto. Brandon Morrow (9-11) fell to 0-4 in his last four starts and 1-6 in his last eight.
Orioles 4, Rays 2
BALTIMORE (AP) - Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Baltimore blunted Tampa Bay's playoff push with a comeback victory.
Evan Longoria homered for the Rays, who had won five straight and eight of nine. Tampa Bay fell four games behind Boston in the wild-card race.
The Rays led 2-1 in the sixth before the Orioles rallied to snap a three-game skid.
With the score 2-all, Tampa Bay reliever J.P. Howell (2-3) retired the first two batters in the eighth before Vladimir Guerrero singled. Adam Jones entered as a pinch runner and Howell served up a 1-1 pitch that Wieters drove into the left-field seats.
Troy Patton (1-1) retired all three batters he faced before Jim Johnson got the final out for his fifth save. It was Patton's first major league win.
Tigers 5, White Sox 0
CHICAGO (AP) - Justin Verlander pitched seven strong innings to earn his major league-best 23rd win and Detroit blanked Chicago for its 11th consecutive victory.
Verlander (23-5) allowed six hits, struck out six and walked two while becoming the first Tigers pitcher since Hal Newhouser in 1946 to win 11 consecutive starts. He is the AL's first 23-game winner since Barry Zito in 2002.
Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer for the AL Central leaders, buoyed by their longest winning streak since September 1968.
White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (12-11) gave up four runs in 5 1-3 innings.
Rangers 10, Athletics 4
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - David Murphy had a pair of solo home runs among his four hits and Josh Hamilton put AL West-leading Texas ahead to stay with his 20th homer in a victory over Cleveland.
Hamilton hit a scorching liner off Justin Masterson (11-10) into the right-center seats for a 4-2 lead in the fifth. Adrian Beltre extended his hitting streak to 17 games, matching a career high, when he led off the seventh with a home run.
Matt Harrison (12-9) gave up three runs while pitching into the sixth inning in his first start in nine days. Murphy scored four times.
Carlos Santana homered twice, becoming the first Indians batter since Victor Martinez on June 1, 2007, to go deep from both sides of the plate.
Angels 6, Athletics 3
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Howie Kendrick homered twice, Erick Aybar scored the go-ahead run on a wild throw home in the seventh inning and Los Angeles picked up a needed and rare win at the Oakland Coliseum.
Maicer Izturis added two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who snapped a two-game skid.
Los Angeles remained three games behind AL West-leading Texas. The Angels and Rangers finish the regular season with a three-game series in Anaheim.
Hisanori Takahashi (4-3), the first of four Los Angeles relievers, pitched 1 2-3 innings for the win. Jordan Walden worked the ninth for his 30th save.
The Angels matched their season high of four double plays and won for only the third time in their last 13 games at the Coliseum.
Fautino De Los Santos (2-2) took the loss.
Royals 4, Twins 0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Bruce Chen pitched eight crisp innings and Alex Gordon homered to lead Kansas City over Minnesota.
Chen (11-7) allowed two singles, struck out eight and walked one. He was 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA in his previous two starts.
Louis Coleman yielded a single to Joe Mauer while finishing the Royals' sixth shutout of the season.
Mike Moustakas also went deep for Kansas City, which had with 12 hits. Gordon went 3 for 5 and drove in two runs.
Carl Pavano (8-12) allowed four runs, three earned, and 11 hits in seven innings. He reached 200 innings for the second straight year. The last-place Twins have lost 18 of 22.