ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Bartolo Colon scattered seven hits over eight impressive innings for the AL West-leading Oakland Athletics, who stretched their division lead over Texas to 5 1/2 games with a 1-0 victory over the Rangers and Yu Darvish on Saturday.
The A's won for the seventh time in eight games, and clinched the key division series by beating Texas twice in less than 24 hours.
Colon (16-6) struck out seven and lowered what is already his career-best ERA to 2.73.
Darvish (12-9) struck out 10 over seven innings in his fourth 1-0 loss of the season. The right-hander from Japan has lost his last four starts, the last two by 1-0 scores, and is winless his last six.
Even though Darvish struck out the side in the first, Josh Donaldson drew a one-out walk and scored on a two-out double by Brandon Moss into the right field corner.
RAYS 7, TWINS 0
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Matt Moore and five relievers combined on a four-hitter and the Tampa Bay Rays held their wild-card lead, defeating Minnesota on a rainy night.
Desmond Jennings hit a pair of RBI doubles as the Rays stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland for the second AL wild-card spot.
The Rays teamed to blank the Twins for the second straight day, and threw their 15th shutout of the season. Tampa Bay beat Minnesota for the 11th time in a row.
After first pitch was delayed by 7 minutes, Tampa Bay took a 4-0 lead before the game was delayed 2 hours, 4 minutes in the middle of the fourth inning.
Moore struck out five over three innings and didn't return after the delay. He has only allowed one earned run in 14 2-3 innings since coming off the disabled list earlier this month.
Brandon Gomes (1-1) pitched the fourth inning and got the win. Andrew Albers (2-3) allowed four runs in four innings.
DETROIT (AP) - Prince Fielder was thrown out at home plate to end the game, preserving Ervin Santana's impressive outing and leading the Royals to a victory over the Tigers.
Eric Hosmer had an RBI triple in the first for the Royals. He was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a grounder to third base.
Santana (9-9) won for the first time since Aug. 4, outpitching Doug Fister (12-9).
Greg Holland got his 43rd save as the Royals stayed 3 1/2 games Tampa Bay for the second wild-card spot.
Fielder walked to open the ninth. The Tigers' burly first baseman then tried to score from first on Omar Infante's two-out double but Gold Glove outfielder Alex Gordon made a strong throw from the left field corner to Alcides Escobar. The shortstop then made a perfect relay to catcher Salvador Perez, who tagged a sliding Fielder to end it.
INDIANS 8, WHITE SOX 1
CHICAGO (AP) - Ubaldo Jimenez pitched 8 1-3 strong innings and Asdrubal Cabrera and Lonnie Chisenhall homered to lead Cleveland to a victory over the White Sox on Saturday night that helped the Indians keep pace in the AL wild-card race.
The Indians trail Tampa Bay by 1 1/2 games for the last wild-card spot.
Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Chisenhall added a three-run shot in a five-run fourth inning that powered the Indians to their 11th straight win against Chicago and third in a row overall.
Jimenez (12-9) scattered eight hits and struck out eight to win his third straight start.
Andre Rienzo (2-2) lasted just four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks.
RED SOX 5, YANKEES 1
BOSTON (AP) - Jon Lester pitched eight dominant innings, and the AL East-leading Red Sox dealt the Yankees' wild-card hopes another blow.
Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes and Shane Victorino each had two hits as the surging Red Sox won for the 16th time in 19 games and beat the Yankees for the fifth time in six meetings in just over a week.
New York is three games behind Tampa Bay for the second wild-card slot.
Lester (14-8) allowed one run and three hits, striking out five and walking two for his fourth win in six starts.
The Red Sox built a 5-1 lead against CC Sabathia (13-13) after five innings.
Sabathia went six innings, allowing five runs on nine hits, walking four and striking out five.
BLUE JAYS 4, ORIOLES 3
TORONTO (AP) - Colby Rasmus hit a two-run home run, Jeremy Jefress won for the first time in more than two years and the Jays handed the slumping Orioles their fifth loss in seven games.
The Orioles are 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay for the second AL wild-card slot.
Rasmus erased Baltimore's 3-2 lead with a drive off the facing of the second deck against Chris Tillman (16-6) in the seventh inning. For Rasmus, it was his 20th homer of the season and second in two days.
Jeffress (1-0) pitched one scoreless inning of relief to win for the first time since April 5, 2011, when he beat the Chicago White Sox while pitching for Kansas City.
Tillman allowed four runs and six hits in eight innings to lose for the first time since Aug. 19.
ANGELS 6, ASTROS 2
HOUSTON (AP) - Jered Weaver pitched six solid innings, Chris Iannetta homered and the Angels stopped Houston's four-game winning streak.
Weaver (10-8) joined Nolan Ryan as the only Angels pitchers to reach double-digits in wins for eight straight seasons.
Brett Wallace homered for Houston, which leads the majors with 97 losses. The Astros had their first four-game winning string since mid-June.
Rookie Brett Oberholtzer (4-3) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings.