DETROIT – Jake Westbrook and Nate Robertson kept the game scoreless through eight innings. Then in a battle of the bullpens, the Cleveland Indians did better – barely.

Pinch-hitter Kenny Lofton’s infield single off Joel Zumaya drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning, and the Indians beat Detroit 3-1 Thursday to open a 21/2-game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central.

Down 3-0, the Tigers still had a chance to win a series for the first time since mid-July. Marcus Thames hit an RBI double with two outs in the 10th off Joe Borowski, putting a pair of runners in scoring position, but Ivan Rodriguez popped up to end it.

With Seattle and New York playing well in the wild-card race, the Indians and Tigers might be competing for only one spot in the postseason. They’re scheduled to play only one more series, a three-game set Sept. 17-19 in Cleveland.

Westbrook allowed five hits and two walks – one intentional – over eight innings. He seems to have turned his season around, winning three of his previous five outings after starting 1-6.

Red Sox-White Sox ppd.

CHICAGO – Heavy rain and powerful storms forced the postponement of Thursday night’s Boston Red Sox-Chicago White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field.

The game was called after a wait of 2 hours, 19 minutes. It will be made up as part of a split doubleheader Friday starting at 2:05 p.m. EDT.

Twins 5, Orioles 2

BALTIMORE – Boof Bonser pitched seven innings of three-hit ball to earn his first win since June 10, and the Minnesota Twins took advantage of shoddy fielding by the Baltimore Orioles in a 5-2 victory Thursday night.

One night after permitting a major league-record 39 runs in a doubleheader loss to Texas – including an AL-record 30 in the first game – the Orioles found a different way to lose.

Steve Trachsel (6-8) took a three-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the eighth inning, but the Twins capitalized on three walks and two errors to score four runs.

Nick Punto beat out a bunt single and went to second on a groundout before Jason Bartlett walked, the fourth ball a wild pitch that enabled Punto to go to third. Joe Mauer hit an RBI groundout off Jamie Walker, and Torii Hunter received an intentional walk.

A throwing error by catcher Ramon Hernandez allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Justin Morneau walked to load the bases for Michael Cuddyer, who hit a grounder to shortstop that Miguel Tejada fumbled for an error while Bartlett scored the go-ahead run.

Oakland 12, Devil Rays 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Mike Piazza hit his 424th homer, had four hits and drove in a season-high five runs, powering the Oakland Athletics to a 12-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Thursday night.

Piazza hit a two-run shot – his fifth of the year – off Brian Stokes to extended the A’s lead to 10-1 in the sixth. The designated hitter, who missed 68 games this season with a right shoulder injury, put Oakland ahead 1-0 on a run-scoring double in the first, had a fourth-inning RBI single and a run-scoring double in the eighth.

Chad Gaudin (10-9) allowed one run over seven innings and Jack Cust hit a two-run homer for the Athletics (65-64), who moved over the .500 mark for the first time since July 7. Oakland has won five in a row, matching a season high.

Tampa Bay, which has allowed 10 or more runs 21 times this year, got within 6-1 on Akinori Iwamura’s RBI single in the third. The Devil Rays, with the major’s worst record at 48-79, are 15-39 since June 25.

Mariners 9, Rangers 4

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Texas Rangers must have been worn out from all the runs they scored the previous night. They didn’t have nearly enough against AL wild-card leader Seattle.

Ichiro Suzuki had a three-run double in between homers by Jose Guillen and Jose Vidro during a seven-run inning Thursday night that pushed the Mariners to a 9-4 victory over the Rangers, who were back home after scoring a record 30 runs in the opener of a doubleheader sweep at Baltimore.

Jeff Weaver (6-10) won his fourth straight start in August.

Seattle is 18-7 since a seven-game losing streak last month and has a two-game lead in the wild-card standings ahead of the New York Yankees, who were off Thursday.