DETROIT – Gary Sheffield hit two home runs and Ramon Santiago also went deep to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 6-4 win over Tampa Bay on Friday night, keeping the Rays from clinching their first division title for the second straight day.

The Rays’ magic number for winning the AL East is one, pending the outcome of the New York Yankees’ game against the Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay would win the division with a Boston loss.

Sheffield has 499 career home runs and Santiago homered for the third time in two days. Magglio Ordonez drove in two runs for Detroit, which beat Tampa Bay 7-5 on Thursday.

B.J. Upton homered and drove in two runs for the Rays.

Justin Verlander (11-17) won his first game since Aug. 22. He allowed two runs and five hits in five innings, walking three and striking out eight.

Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 18 chances. He allowed a run on first baseman Miguel Cabrera’s error, but escaped a second and third, two-out jam by getting Jason Bartlett to fly out.

Andy Sonnanstine (13-9) gave up five runs on five hits in 5 2-3 innings for the Rays, walking five and striking out seven.

Detroit won despite losing Placido Polanco in the first inning, when the second baseman slid into home and sprained his left ankle.

He rolled over and writhed in pain after sliding across the plate and beating the tag by catcher Dioner Navarro. X-rays were negative and Polanco, hitting .307 with eight home runs and 58 RBI, was scheduled to be re-evaluated Saturday.

After Ordonez’s two-run double, Detroit pushed its lead to 3-0 on Sheffield’s first home run. Santiago added a two-run shot in the second.

Tampa Bay got on the board in the third on Upton’s fielder’s choice grounder, and Pena’s two-out RBI single in the fifth closed the gap to 5-2. Upton’s ninth homer of the season made it 5-3 in the seventh.

Sheffield added his second homer and 19th of the season in the eighth.

Blue Jays 3, Orioles 0

BALTIMORE – Scott Richmond pitched six innings of four-hit ball to earn his first major league victory and Toronto handed Baltimore its 10th straight loss, winning in a game halted by rain in the seventh.

Curtis Thigpen hit his first big league homer in the seventh, minutes before rain forced a stoppage in play. After a delay of 1 hour, 5 minutes, umpires called the game.

Richmond (1-3) struck out three and walked none. Richmond outpitched rookie Chris Waters (3-5), who allowed three runs and nine hits in six-plus innings.

The 10-game skid is the Orioles’ longest since they lost 12 in a row in August 2004.

Phillies 8, Nationals 4

PHILADELPHIA – Ryan Howard hit his major league-leading 48th homer, Joe Blanton pitched six effective innings and the Philadelphia Phillies moved closer to clinching the NL East title with an 8-4 victory over the Nationals.

The Phillies’ magic number for winning their second straight division championship was reduced to one after the New York Mets lost 6-1 to the Florida Marlins.

Chase Utley had a three-run double and Howard drove in four runs as Philadelphia built a 7-1 lead off Collin Balester (3-7).

The Nationals chipped away against Blanton (4-0), but four relievers combined to toss three scoreless innings.

The Phillies reached 90 wins for the 12th time in the franchise’s 126-year history. They hadn’t done it since winning 97 games in 1993.

Marlins 6, Mets 1

NEW YORK – The Mets’ offense fizzled and Mike Pelfrey lost to Florida for the fourth time this season, putting New York’s postseason chances in peril.

Josh Willingham homered and Hanley Ramirez had four hits for the Marlins, who knocked New York out of the playoff race on the final weekend last season.

The Mets, who began the night tied atop the wild-card standings with Milwaukee, fell two games behind first-place Philadelphia, which beat Washington 8-4. They will send ace Johan Santana to the mound Saturday on three days’ rest.

Pelfrey (13-11) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings, falling to 0-4 in five starts against Florida this year.

Brewers 5, Cubs 1

MILWAUKEE – Rickie Weeks hit a three-run homer, Seth McClung pitched four scoreless innings in relief and the Brewers rallied to beat the Cubs for their fifth straight win and the lead in the NL wild-card race.

Weeks, who has been relegated to a bench role but replaced Ray Durham after the sixth, drove reliever Chad Gaudin’s pitch deep to left field, flipping his bat as his shot cleared the wall to score McClung and Mike Cameron.

The win eliminated the Astros even though Houston beat Atlanta.

With the game tied at 1 in the sixth, Cubs reliever Sean Marshall (3-5) allowed a leadoff double to Durham and walked Ryan Braun before striking out Prince Fielder. Jeff Samardzija came in and got J.J. Hardy to pop up for the second out, but Corey Hart flared a go-ahead RBI single to left.

Brewers starter Jeff Suppan allowed eight hits and a walk over five innings. McClung (6-6) did the rest, striking out six and retiring 10 of the final 11 Cubs.

Rangers 12, Angels 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Hank Blalock homered in his fifth straight game to trigger a seven-run second inning against John Lackey and the Texas Rangers routed the AL West champion Los Angeles Angels 12-1 on Friday night.

Despite their second-most lopsided defeat of the season, the Angels (99-61) mathematically clinched the best record in the majors for the first time in the franchise’s 48-year history – and home field advantage throughout the postseason earlier in the evening when the upstart Tampa Bay Rays lost 6-4 at Detroit.

The Angels will play the wild card Red Sox in the American League Division Series.