After six months of baseball, the American League Central comes down to one game.
Scott Baker scattered four singles over seven shutout innings, pitching the Twins past the Kansas City Royals 6-0 on Sunday to preserve their half-game lead in the division. The White Sox snapped their five-game losing streak by beating Cleveland 5-1, pushing the season into an extra day.
On Monday, Detroit visits Chicago for a makeup game. If the White Sox (87-74) win, they'll host the Twins on Tuesday in a one-game playoff to determine the division title and the first-round opponent for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Delmon Young's two-run single and Joe Mauer's two-run triple gave Baker (11-4) some extra insurance, and relievers Jose Mijares and Joe Nathan finished the final two innings to give Minnesota an 88-74 record -- far exceeding almost every forecast.
Chicago's Mark Buehrle won on three days' rest, Paul Konerko hit his fourth homer in three games and Jermaine Dye had a two-run single to lead the White Sox.
Chicago backed Buehrle with four double plays, and Indians third baseman Jamey Carroll made a key error that allowed the go-ahead run to score in a three-run second inning.
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Astros 3, Braves 1: HOUSTON -- Brad Ausmus hit a two-run homer in his final game with Houston.
Wandy Rodriguez (9-7) struck out six in seven strong innings and Jose Valverde shut out the Braves in the ninth to tie a franchise record with his 44th save. Billy Wagner saved 44 games for Houston in 2003.
Chipper Jones secured his first NL batting title, walking in his only at-bat. Jones hit a career-high .364 to edge Albert Pujols and become the NL's first switch-hitting batting champion since Terry Pendleton won in 1991.
Ausmus caught a franchise-record 1,249 games in 10 seasons with Houston.
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Angels 7, Rangers 0: ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels posted their team-record 100th win, with Joe Saunders pitching six sharp innings and Mike Napoli homering Sunday.
The Angels (100-62) take baseball's best record into the first round of the playoffs against the World Series champion Boston Red Sox beginning Wednesday in Anaheim.
Los Angeles won the AL West by 21 games over the Rangers, becoming the first team to win a division by at least 20 or more games since the 1999 Cleveland Indians, who finished 211/2 games ahead of Chicago that year.
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