BOSTON — A.J. Burnett scattered three hits pitching into the eighth inning and Alex Rios homered for the Toronto Blue Jays, who wrapped up a miserable road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.
Toronto finished the nine-game trip at 2-7 and avoided a sweep after Boston had won the two previous games in the last at-bat. The Red Sox and Blue Jays combined for seven total runs in the series.
Burnett (3-2) continued his mastery of the Red Sox, improving to 4-0 against Boston while allowing just one run in 16 innings over two starts at Fenway Park. Burnett struck out five and walked five in 7 2-3 innings, and B.J. Ryan pitched the ninth for his third save.
Tim Wakefield (2-1) lost for the first time in seven starts after giving up three runs and six hits in seven innings. The knuckleballer walked four and didn’t record a strikeout.
Athletics 15, Angels 8
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jack Cust went 4-for-4 with a go-ahead homer that triggered an eight-run fifth inning, Emil Brown had four hits and the A’s gained a split of the four-game series.
Justin Duchscherer (2-1) allowed six runs — only one earned — and six hits over five innings with six strikeouts in his 200th major league game and eighth career start.
The A’s, who beat the Halos 14-2 in Monday’s series opener, had 20 hits. Frank Thomas, Bobby Crosby, Daric Barton, Ryan Sweeney and Kurt Suzuki each had two RBIs and Cust scored three runs.
Thomas and Crosby each hit two-run singles during a 49-pitch meltdown by Angels relievers Dustin Moseley (1-3), Darren O’Day and Chris Bootcheck in the fifth, which included a wild pitch by Bootcheck that accounted for the final run of the inning.
Tigers 8, Yankees 4
NEW YORK — Miguel Cabrera homered, tripled and drove in three runs, leading Detroit to its first three-game sweep in New York since 1966.
Reserve infielder Ramon Santiago made the most of his first start at shortstop this season, turning in a key defensive play and hitting a tiebreaking triple to back Nate Robertson (1-3).
Magglio Ordonez had three hits — including a two-run double off Ian Kennedy — and scored twice for the Tigers, who won for the eighth time in 10 games.
Bobby Abreu hit a three-run homer for the banged-up Yankees, who have lost six of eight. They got more bad news before the game when they learned pitcher Phil Hughes is expected to be out until at least July with a stress fracture in one of his ribs.
Jonathan Albaladejo (0-1) got the loss.
Rays 4, Orioles 2
BALTIMORE — Matt Garza allowed three hits in six innings, Carl Crawford snapped a tie with a two-run single in the seventh and the Rays won again.
Tampa Bay took two of three from Baltimore to win its third straight series and climb four games over .500 (16-12) for only the third time in the 11-year history of the franchise. Tampa Bay has never been five games over the break-even point.
Adam Jones homered for the Orioles, who have lost four of five.
Tampa Bay center fielder B.J. Upton left the game with a strained left shoulder.
Garza (1-0) allowed two runs, walked two and struck out three. Dan Wheeler retired all six batters he faced and Troy Percival worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
Brian Burres (3-2) pitched six-plus innings, giving up six hits and three earned runs.
Rangers 2, Royals 1
ARLINGTON, Texas — Sidney Ponson got his first victory in a year and Texas finished off a successful homestand with Ron Washington still its manager.
Ian Kinsler hit a leadoff homer in the first and Ramon Vazquez hit a tiebreaking drive in the sixth off Zack Greinke (3-1).
The Rangers took two-of-three from both Minnesota and Kansas City during the homestand, a promising sign after setting a team record with 18 losses in April.
Ponson (1-0) allowed six hits, struck out five and walked two in eight innings. C.J. Wilson worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save in seven chances.
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