ARLINGTON, Texas — Hank Blalock homered to help lift Texas’ slumping offense, Scott Feldman picked up his 17th victory and the Rangers kept their slim playoff hopes alive, beating the Angels, 3-2.

The Rangers, who snapped a five-game losing streak, moved within 6½ games of the division-leading Angels in the AL West. Texas is also 6½ games behind Boston in the wild-card chase. The Red Sox played at Baltimore on Saturday night.

Texas had been shutout in four of its previous five games, the first time in club history that happened. The Rangers had scored once in 48 innings before bringing home a run in the third.

White Sox 13, Royals 3

CHICAGO (AP) – Jake Peavy allowed three runs and three hits over five innings in his first start in over three months as Chicago got a grand slam from Carlos Quentin, scored six times in the eighth and beat the Royals.

Peavy (1-0) hadn’t pitched in a major league game since June 8 when he beat the Diamondbacks while with the Padres. Five days later, he went on the disabled list with a strained tendon in his right ankle.

Traded to the White Sox on July 31, he’d planned to be pitching sooner but was hit in the pitching elbow with a line drive during a rehab game Aug. 24, setting him back.

Paul Konerko hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third off K.C. rookie Dusty Hughes (0-1), who had to leave his first major league start in the fifth with left elbow nerve irritation.

Twins 6, Tigers 2

MINNEAPOLIS — The latest ball lost in the Metrodome’s deceiving roof spoiled Justin Verlander’s stellar start in the eighth inning, and the Minnesota Twins rallied past the Detroit Tigers 6-2 Saturday to move within two games of the AL Central lead.

Jason Kubel’s two-run single with the bases loaded sent Verlander (16-9) to the dugout after a season-high 128 pitches, and Michael Cuddyer greeted Brandon Lyon with a three-run homer to break the game open.

The Twins won their sixth straight and moved four games above the .500 mark, both season highs, in front of the largest crowd, 43,338, at the Metrodome since opening day.

Verlander struck out Nick Punto to start his last inning. But after a single by Denard Span, Orlando Cabrera hit a medium-length fly ball down the left-field line. Defensive replacement Don Kelly misjudged it, and it hit on the turf just under his glove for a double.

Joe Mauer was intentionally walked, and then Kubel came through for Minnesota with a bloop that Kelly charged but couldn’t reach. Cuddyer followed with his second homer in as many games.

Jesse Crain (6-4) threw a scoreless eighth for the victory.

Athletics 8, Indians 4

OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland’s Mark Ellis homered to break the franchise record for second basemen and the Athletics extended their winning streak to six games.

Ellis connected in the second inning against Jeremy Sowers for his 79th career homer and No. 77 while playing second for the A’s, moving past Dick Green on the club’s list.

Matt LaPorta, Trevor Crowe and Jamey Carroll had two hits apiece for Cleveland, which has lost 10 straight on the road and 17 of 21 overall.

Brad Kilby (1-0) struck out three in 1 2-3 innings for his first major league win. Kurt Suzuki had three hits, including a homer, for Oakland.

Sowers (6-10) failed to record an out in the second and was charged with six runs and nine hits.

Dodgers 12, Giants 1

LOS ANGELES — Ronnie Belliard hit a grand slam, Matt Kemp and James Loney added back-to-back drives off former teammate Brad Penny and the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the San Francisco Giants 12-1 on Saturday.

The Dodgers, who lost the series opener 8-4 on Friday night, began the day with a five-game lead over Colorado in the NL West. The Giants were 2½ back of the wild card-leading Rockies before Saturday’s games.

Los Angeles’ victory reduced its magic number to six for clinching its third postseason berth in four years.

Jon Garland (11-11) gave up an unearned run and seven hits in eight innings, tying his longest outing of the season. The right-hander is unbeaten in his last six starts, four of those with the Dodgers after he was acquired from Arizona on Aug. 31.

Pitching in 87-degree heat, Penny (10-9) gave up seven runs and five hits in 2 2-3 innings – equaling his shortest outing of the season. He lost for the first time in four outings with the Giants.

San Francisco’s Randy Johnson made his first relief appearance since pitching for the Yankees in the 2005 American League division series. He faced three batters in the sixth, giving up consecutive doubles to Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier before retiring pinch-hitter Juan Pierre.

Cardinals 2, Cubs 1

ST. LOUIS — Brendan Ryan hit an outfielder-assisted homer and singled in the winning run in the ninth inning, helping St. Louis reduce its magic number for clinching the NL Central to four.

The Cardinals beat the Cubs in the ninth inning for the second straight game, this time prevailing after Ryan Franklin’s third blown save in his last five appearances. Franklin (4-3) allowed two hits and a tying sacrifice fly to Jeff Baker in the ninth.

St. Louis had three singles off Carlos Marmol (2-4) in the bottom half and Ryan’s liner to left with runners on first and third was his third hit of the game.

Left fielder Bobby Scales had Ryan’s drive in his glove in the fifth as he banged into the 8-foot-high fence. But it popped out and over for Ryan’s third homer of the season and the Cardinals’ only run off Ryan Dempster.

Mets 3, Nationals 2

NEW YORK — Tim Redding pitched splendidly into the eighth inning and New York ended its six-game losing streak.

The Mets won for only the second time in 12 games and avoided their longest skid since dropping 11 straight Aug. 28 to Sept. 8, 2004, according to STATS LLC.

New York scored twice in the seventh to snap a 1-all tie. David Wright opened the inning with a liner to right that Ian Desmond misplayed into a double in his first professional game in the outfield. Jeff Francoeur doubled in Wright and eventually scored on Daniel Murphy’s RBI grounder, which scooted past first baseman Adam Dunn for a two-base error.

Redding (3-6) gave up two runs, one earned, and four hits in seven-plus innings. Francisco Rodriguez worked a perfect ninth for his 32nd save in 38 chances.

John Lannan (9-12) yielded three runs and five hits in seven innings for the Nationals.
Padres 2, Pirates 1

PITTSBURGH — Henry Blanco hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to lead San Diego to the victory.

In a game between two teams a combined 49 games under .500, two of the runs were scored without the benefit of a hit. The winner came when Chase Headley reached on an error by second baseman Brian Bixler and Phil Dumatrait (0-2) walked the next two batters before Blanco’s fly to deep center off Denny Bautista.

Luke Gregerson (2-3) got three outs to extend his scoreless streak to 17 innings and Heath Bell worked the ninth for his 38th save in 43 opportunities. Pinch-hitter Brandon Moss singled off Bell with two out, but Neil Walker flied out to the warning track in right to end the game.

Marlins 3, Reds 2.

CINCINNATI — Pinch-hitter Ross Gload connected for a two-run homer in the eighth inning, Ricky Nolasco pitched seven sharp innings and the Florida Marlins rallied to beat the Cincinnati Reds for the second straight day, winning 3-2 on Saturday night.

Jorge Cantu also homered for the Marlins, who scored four times in the ninth inning Friday to beat the Reds 4-3 and end a nine-game skid in Cincinnati that dated to April 2006.

Nolasco became the first Florida pitcher to last at least seven innings since Aug. 18, when he pitched a complete game in a 6-2 win at Houston.

Rays 4, Blue Jays 0.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Matt Garza struck out 10 while stopping a personal nine-game winless streak and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 on Saturday night.

Garza (8-10) allowed three hits over 7 1-3 innings in winning for the first time since beating Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay 4-2 on July 24. The right-hander is 3-5 – with all three victories coming against Toronto – over his past 15 starts.

Toronto rookie Ricky Romero (12-9) lost for the fourth time in five starts, giving up four runs and seven hits in six innings. The Blue Jays are 4-13 against Tampa Bay this season.

White Sox 13, Royals 3

CHICAGO — Jake Peavy allowed three runs and three hits over five innings in his first start in over three months Saturday night as Chicago got a grand slam from Carlos Quentin, scored six times in the eighth and beat the Kansas City Royals 13-3.

Peavy (1-0) hadn’t pitched in a major league game since June 8 when he beat the Diamondbacks while with the Padres. Five days later, he went on the disabled list with a strained tendon in his right ankle.

Traded to the White Sox on July 31, he’d planned to be pitching sooner but was hit in the pitching elbow with a line drive during a rehab game Aug. 24, setting him back.

Even with the White Sox’s chances for making the postseason slim at best, Peavy made the start Saturday night and the 2007 Cy Young Award winner gave a glimpse of what might be next season during his 73-pitch outing.

Peavy struck out three of the first four batters he faced before running into trouble in the second when Alberto Callaspo hit a sinking liner for a single, Miguel Olivo drew a walk and Alex Gordon followed with an RBI single. With runners at the corners, Olivo broke from third and scored as Yuniesky Betancourt dropped down a squeeze bunt to give the Royals a 2-1 lead.

Billy Butler hit a two-out opposite field homer off Peavy in the third for a 3-1 Royals’ lead, but Chicago rallied.

Brewers 7, Astros 2

MILWAUKEE — Jeff Suppan pitched seven strong innings and Jody Gerut’s pinch-hit single in the seventh inning drove in the go-ahead run to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

It was the fourth straight win for Milwaukee, which hadn’t won that many in a row since May 16-19. The Brewers broke open a close game with five runs in the seventh inning as they sent 10 batters to the plate.

Suppan (7-10) gave up five hits and struck out a season high seven. He dominated the Astros during the middle part of the game, retiring 11 straight before Hunter Pence’s homer in the seventh that gave Houston a 2-1 lead.

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