White Sox 6, Indians 4: CLEVELAND -- For the second straight game, Manny Ramirez watched from a few feet away as one of his new teammates hit a decisive home run.
Claimed on waivers by Chicago for his renowned power, Ramirez provided only a bloop single in his debut but he was on deck when Paul Konerko hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to give the White Sox a 6-4 win and a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday.
Chicago trailed 4-1 going into the eighth, then rallied after the Indians pulled Carlos Carrasco, who was making his first start of 2010.
With the intimidating Ramirez waiting in the on-deck circle, Konerko connected with two outs off Justin Germano (0-1) as the White Sox improved to 3-0 on a 10-game trip.
On Tuesday night, Ramirez was on deck in the ninth and ready to pinch hit when A.J. Pierzynski hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in Chicago's 4-3 win.
White Sox reliever Tony Pena (4-2) pitched three innings after replacing Freddy Garcia, who left after four with a stiff back. Chris Sale, the team's first-round draft pick this year, worked the ninth for his first career save. The left-hander struck out Shin-Soo Choo with the potential tying runs on base to end it.
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Yankees 4, Athletics 3: NEW YORK -- A.J. Burnett bounced back from an awful August by pitching six effective innings and New York beat Oakland for its fifth straight win.
The Yankees held their one-game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East. They'll go for a four-game sweep Thursday with CC Sabathia on the mound.
Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run homer for the Athletics and Brett Anderson (3-6) allowed only one earned run, but the A's fell to 1-8 against New York this season.
Burnett (10-12) went 0-4 in five starts since his previous win, July 28 at Cleveland. He came off a particularly rough outing in which he lasted 3 1/3 innings and tied a season high with eight earned runs, leaving him with a 7.80 ERA in August.
Burnett got September off to a stronger start, allowing three runs and striking out eight.
Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 28th save. He struck out Kurt Suzuki with a runner on second to end it.
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Rays 2, Blue Jays 1: ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Evan Longoria snapped an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single, leading Tampa Bay past Toronto for David Price's club-record 16th victory.
Price (16-6) allowed a solo homer to John Buck, a double and two infield singles over eight innings. The 25-year-old left-hander walked two and struck out seven before Rafael Soriano worked out of a jam in the ninth for his major league-leading 40th save in 42 opportunities.
Sean Rodriguez homered, tripled and singled off Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum. Rodriguez was denied a chance to go for the cycle when he was intentionally walked to load the bases after Longoria delivered his go-ahead hit off Scott Downs.
Ben Zobrist began the winning rally by drawing a one-out walk from Shawn Camp (4-3).
The victory gave Tampa Bay its 11th consecutive home series win over Toronto, when hasn't won a series at Tropicana Field since April 2007.
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Red Sox 9, Orioles 6: BALTIMORE -- Marco Scutaro and Adrian Beltre homered in a six-run seventh inning and Boston beat Baltimore to provide Jon Lester with another win over the Orioles.
J.D. Drew also homered for the Red Sox, who trailed 5-2 before rallying to end a three-game skid. Boston remained seven games AL wild-card leader Tampa Bay.
Lester improved to 13-0 lifetime against Baltimore, but this one wasn't easy. The left-hander yielded more runs (five) in the first two innings than in any of his previous 15 outings against the Orioles, but settled down in time to give Boston a chance to make up the deficit.
Lester (15-8) allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out 10 and walked two.
Scutaro's two-run homer off Mark Hendrickson (1-5) tied it in the seventh. Victor Martinez added an RBI double off Alfredo Simon, and Beltre followed an intentional walk to David Ortiz with a three-run shot.
Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth for his 34th save, ending Baltimore's four-game winning streak.
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Twins 2, Tigers 1, 10 innings: MINNEAPOLIS -- Danny Valencia's one-out single in the 10th inning drove in Michael Cuddyer from second base and gave Minnesota a victory over Detroit.
The Twins kept their four-game lead over Chicago in the AL Central, improving to 9-5 against the Tigers this season, 7-1 at Target Field.
Cuddyer singled against Ryan Perry (2-5) to start the 10th and stole second base.
Jon Rauch (3-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the win, after starter Francisco Liriano tossed seven shutout innings for the Twins.
Max Scherzer went nine innings for the Tigers, allowing four hits.
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Phillies 5, Dodgers 1: LOS ANGELES -- Roy Oswalt pitched one-hit ball into the seventh and the Philadelphia Phillies used leadoff homers by Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino in the first two innings to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Wednesday.
The Dodgers managed only three hits in support of Clayton Kershaw and didn't put up much of a struggle against Oswalt (10-13), who has been a valuable pennant-drive pickup for Philadelphia
The right-hander, who turned 33 on Sunday, held Los Angeles hitless until Casey Blake lined a clean single to right field with two outs in the sixth after Oswalt issued the fifth of his six walks.
Oswalt threw 115 pitches and struck out six. The three-time All-Star is 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA in seven starts since the Phillies acquired him in a trade with Houston on July 29.
Kershaw (11-9) allowed two runs and five hits over six innings, struck out 11 and walked two.
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Diamondbacks 5, Padres 2: PHOENIX -- Brandon Allen had an impressive 2010 debut with Arizona, hitting a grand slam and making several rangy catches in left field to help the Diamondbacks send reeling San Diego to its seventh straight loss.
Called up from the minors before the game, Allen made a running, leaping catch against the fence on Chase Headley's slicing fly to the corner in the fourth inning and had an in-the-gap grab in the fifth to back Barry Enright (6-2). Allen punctuated his return to the majors in the seventh, hitting his first career grand slam to right off Luke Gregerson (3-7).
San Diego shortstop Miguel Tejada hit a solo homer but made an error on a potential double-play ball to set up Allen's slam.
Chris Young hit his 23rd homer, Enright allowed two runs in seven innings and Juan Gutierrez pitched the ninth for his sixth save to help Arizona complete a three-game sweep of the NL West leaders. The Diamondbacks have won six of seven.
Padres starter Mat Latos held the Diamondbacks to one run over six innings while matching a career high with 10 strikeouts. He became the first pitcher to allow two earned runs or less in 14 straight starts since Greg Maddux did it with Atlanta from 1993-94.
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Reds 6, Brewers 1: CINCINNATI -- Aroldis Chapman hit 103 mph on the radar gun during another sizzling inning, then got his first big league win when Cincinnati rallied to beat Milwaukee.
The Cuban left-hander threw two pitches that clocked 103 mph -- his fastest yet -- in his second straight unhittable performance.
The Reds stretched their NL Central lead to a season-high eight games over St. Louis. Cincinnati hasn't enjoyed such a big edge since 1995, the last time it reached the playoffs.
Ryan Hanigan's pinch-hit, three-run homer in the seventh off Todd Coffey (2-3) set up the Reds' three-game sweep. Cincinnati has dominated the Brewers all season, winning seven of eight.
Reds starter Johnny Cueto gave up one run in six innings before turning it over to Chapman (1-0), who has retired all six batters he's faced in his first two major league appearances.
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Braves 4, Mets 1: ATLANTA -- Tommy Hanson finally got some run support and won for the first time in nearly two months, allowing one hit in seven shutout innings to lead Atlanta past New York.
Omar Infante and Jason Heyward combined for seven hits at the top of the Braves' order. Martin Prado drove in two runs with a first-inning double.
The Braves won their fifth straight and maintained a three-game lead in the NL East over Philadelphia.
Hanson (9-10) went 0-5 in his previous 10 starts. But he was in total command against New York, winning for the first time since July 3. David Wright's one-out double in the fourth was the lone hit off the Atlanta starter.
New York's other hit was pinch-hitter Luiz Hernandez's run-scoring single off Jonny Venters in the eighth. Billy Wagner worked a perfect ninth for his 31st save.
Heyward had more hits than the Mets all by himself, putting up the third four-hit game of his rookie season -- each time going the opposite way to left.
The Braves started the game with three straight hits off Mike Pelfrey (13-8), who went five innings.
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Marlins 16, Nationals 10: MIAMI -- Nyjer Morgan charged the mound after a pitch sailed behind him, triggering a bench-clearing brawl during Florida's wild win over Washington.
Morgan, recently suspended and criticized by his own manager for questionable acts on the field, left Florida catcher Brett Hayes with a separated shoulder Tuesday night after a home plate collision in the 10th inning.
Florida's Chris Volstad hit Morgan with a pitch in the fourth inning this time. The speedy leadoff man then stole two bases with his Nationals trailing 14-3.
Volstad (9-9) threw his first pitch of the sixth behind Morgan, setting off a frenzied scene. Morgan took a big swing that appeared to graze Volstad's face -- Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez clothes-lined Morgan, knocking off his batting helmet and sending him to the ground.
The teams piled up, and managers Jim Riggleman of the Nationals and Edwin Rodriguez of the Marlins jawed at each other.
Morgan, Volstad, Rodriguez and Marlins pitcher Jose Veras were ejected. Morgan was booed loudly when he raised his arms as he was escorted off the field.
Morgan is currently appealing a seven-game suspension for throwing a ball at a fan in the stands in Philadelphia on Aug. 21.
Washington reliever Doug Slaten and Riggleman were ejected after Sanchez was hit with a pitch in the seventh. Four batters were hit overall.
Wes Helms had three hits and five RBIs in the Marlins' highest-scoring game of the season. Mike Stanton, Brad Davis and Cameron Maybin homered for Florida.
Scott Olsen (3-8) lasted just 1 2/3 innings while losing his sixth straight start. He allowed nine runs and eight hits.
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Cubs 5, Pirates 3: CHICAGO -- Kosuke Fukudome had three hits, including a go-ahead double, during a perfect day at the plate to lead Chicago past Pittsburgh.
Carlos Marmol escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning and finished for his 25th save in 30 chances. Fukudome went 3 for 3 with two doubles and a walk. He also scored twice.
Chicago starter Tom Gorzelanny was knocked out in the third when Jose Tabata lined a shot off his right hand. The left-hander departed for X-rays, but five Cubs relievers combined to allow four hits the rest of the way.
Thomas Diamond (1-3), who replaced Gorzelanny, gave up two runs and two hits in 1 2/3 innings for his first major league win. The Cubs took two of three in the series to finish 5-10 against last-place Pittsburgh this season.
James McDonald (2-5) allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings. Neil Walker homered and had three hits for the Pirates.
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