NEW YORK (AP) —
Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada hit back-to-back homers leading off the
eighth inning and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-5
on Tuesday night for their eighth win in nine games.

Indians 5, Rangers 0

CLEVELAND — Aaron Laffey pitched effectively into the seventh inning to remain undefeated at home, and the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers 5-0.

The resurgent Indians improved to 13-6 since losing 21 of 28 from June 15 to July 19. Texas came in tied with Boston for the wild card lead in the AL, but fell to 3-5 in August.

Laffey (6-3) allowed six hits and three walks in 6 2-3 innings. He did not allow an earned run for the third time in four starts since July 24. In his previous outing, the left-hander gave up an unearned run in a career-high eight innings. He is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA in five home starts this season.

Dustin Nippert (3-1) struck out a career-high 10 over six innings for Texas – a dominating performance except for a third inning in which Cleveland’s first five batters all scored.

Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera each singled and Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch to load the bases in the third. Jhonny Peralta drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 1-0, Travis Hafner had an RBI single, Luis Valbuena a two-run double and Trevor Crowe capped the rally with a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 lead.

 Orioles 3, Athletics 2

BALTIMORE — David Hernandez outpitched Trevor Cahill in a duel between rookie right-handers, and the Baltimore Orioles ended a nine-game losing streak against the Oakland Athletics with a 3-2 victory.

Brian Roberts had three hits, an RBI and two stolen bases for the Orioles, who had been outscored 30-6 in their previous four games against Oakland this season. It was Baltimore’s first win over the A’s since July 22, 2007.

Hernandez (4-4) allowed two runs, six hits and a walk in 6 2-3 innings. The only glaring faults in his performance were solo home runs by Scott Hairston and Adam Kennedy.

Jim Johnson got three outs to earn his fourth save, the second since he inherited the closer’s job from George Sherrill, who was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 30.

Cahill (6-12) gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings but lost his fourth straight start. His 12th defeat of the season left him tied for most in the AL.

Cahill had allowed at least one homer in each of his previous nine starts, but he kept the ball in the park to end the third-longest streak in Oakland history.

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