ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kendry Morales homered and drove in three runs, and Los Angeles clinched its third straight AL West title with an 11-0 victory over Texas on Monday night.
Ervin Santana pitched a seven-hitter for his fourth career shutout, while Maicer Izturis had three hits and two RBI to wrap up the Angels’ sixth playoff berth in eight seasons. Los Angeles will open at home in the best-of-five first round next week — most likely against Boston.
The Red Sox need one win or a Texas loss to earn the AL wild card.
The Angels needed one win in this four-game series to secure their fifth division title in six years.
Los Angeles took a 7-0 lead in the third against rookie Tommy Hunter (9-5). Erick Aybar and Vladimir Guerrero drove in two runs each, while Bobby Abreu had three hits.
After the final out, the Angels formed a mob on the field around Santana (8-8).
Blue Jays 11, Red Sox 5
BOSTON — Toronto took advantage of Josh Beckett being scratched from his scheduled start by scoring seven runs off substitute Michael Bowden in a game that was called in the seventh inning because of rain.
It was the fourth straight loss for Boston, which could have clinched the AL wild card with a victory and a Texas loss to Los Angeles later Monday. The Rangers lost 11-0 to the Angels, leaving Boston six games ahead in the wild card with seven games to play.
Jose Bautista, Aaron Hill and Rod Barajas homered for the Blue Jays, who had lost six straight to the Red Sox and eight in a row at Fenway Park.
Scott Richmond (8-10) gave up four runs and six hits in six innings to win his second consecutive start after going 0-6 in his previous 10.
Kevin Youkilis homered twice, and David Ortiz hit one for Boston, which had one run in and two men on with no outs in the seventh when a sudden downpour stopped play. The game was called after a delay of 62 minutes.
Bowden (0-1), making his second career start, allowed seven runs and seven hits in three innings.
Yankees 8, Royals 2
NEW YORK — Robinson Cano capped a five-run seventh inning with a grand slam to lead New York’s makeshift lineup in win No. 101.
One day after the Yankees secured their first AL East title since 2006, Ramiro Pena hit his first major league home run and Shelley Duncan had a tiebreaking single in the sixth. New York rested most of its regulars for the opener of a three-game series.
Cano’s second career slam was his 25th homer this season and helped set a franchise record for most players with at least 25 in a season. He joined Mark Teixeira (38), Alex Rodriguez (28), Hideki Matsui (28) and Nick Swisher (27).
The start of the game was delayed by rain for 1 hour, 56 minutes.
Pena connected off Luke Hochevar (7-12) in the fifth, his first homer in 104 at-bats.
Chad Gaudin (2-0) earned his first win in 13 starts, dating to July 3 with San Diego. He allowed four hits and two runs in 6 2-3 innings.
White Sox 6, Indians 1
CLEVELAND — Gordon Beckham drove in three runs to help Chicago’s John Danks earn his first win in more than a month.
Danks’ first career complete game gave Chicago its third win in four games following a stretch of seven losses in eight games.
Danks (13-10) allowed three hits and one run, striking out seven in his first complete game at any level since being drafted in 2003 by Texas. Shin-Soo Choo hit his 19th homer leading off the seventh to break up the left-hander’s bid for his first career shutout.
The White Sox took a 3-0 lead in the second against Aaron Laffey (7-8) without hitting the ball hard. They loaded the bases on three consecutive one-out singles — then scored three times without hitting a ball out of the infield.
Rays 7, Orioles 6
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Pat Burrell hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and pinch-hitter Willy Aybar had one of four Tampa Bay homers to extend Baltimore’s losing streak to 11 games.
Ben Zobrist opened the eighth with a double off Chris Ray (0-4) and went to third on a grounder. Burrell’s fly ball against Danys Baez broke 6-all tie.
Tampa Bay tied it at 6 on Aybar’s three-run shot in the seventh off reliever Matt Albers.
Lance Cormier (3-3) pitched a scoreless inning before Grant Balfour got the final out for his second save.
Gabe Kapler, Zobrist and Evan Longoria also homered for the Rays, who are 8-5 since an 11-game skid. Tampa Bay has hit 193 homers this season, breaking the team record of 190 set in 2006.
Brian Roberts hit a two-run homer for the Orioles (60-96), who are a season-worst 36 games under .500.
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