Cabrera, Tigers rout Athletics

DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera homered twice, including an eighth-inning grand slam, and the Detroit Tigers had no trouble overcoming an early injury to right-hander Max Scherzer in a 12-2 rout of the Oakland Athletics Tuesday.

Cabrera matched a career high with six RBIs and now has 40 homers on the season — also a career best. Prince Fielder and Jhonny Peralta added home runs for the Tigers, who were three games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central coming into the night.

Scherzer left after two innings because of a fatigued throwing shoulder. An MRI showed no structural damage.

Darin Downs (2-1) pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings for the win.

Oakland rookie A.J. Griffin (6-1) lost for the first time in his career.

Red Sox 7, Rays 5: Felix Doubront limited Tampa Bay’s sputtering offense to one hit over six innings and the Boston Red Sox rallied for a 7-5 victory that dealt another blow to the Rays’ fading playoff hopes.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, James Loney, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ryan Lavarnway drove in runs for the Red Sox, who beat their AL East rivals for the second straight night, extending Tampa Bay’s losing streak to four games and dropping the third-place Rays six games behind the division-leading New York Yankees.

Doubront (11-9) settled down after a shaky third inning when he loaded the bases on three walks before giving up a two-run single to Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria’s sacrifice fly.

Twins 6, Indians 5 (12): Darin Mastroianni scored the go-ahead run from second base on an infield hit in a two-run 12th inning and the Minnesota Twins beat Cleveland 6-5, tying the Indians for fourth place in the AL Central.

Mastroianni singled with two outs and stole second off Scott Maine (1-1), the team-record 10th pitcher used by Cleveland. Alexi Casilla then poked a ball between first and second that second baseman Jason Kipnis fielded in short right. But Casilla was safe when first baseman Matt LaPorta fielded Kipnis’ throw, but was not on the bag. LaPorta held the ball before reacting too late to throw out Mastroianni at home.

Tyler Robertson (2-2) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win. Glen Perkins worked the 12th for his 12th save.

White Sox 3, Royals 2: Gavin Floyd pitched seven crisp innings, Alex Rios hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 for their fifth consecutive win.

Angels 11, Rangers 3: Jered Weaver earned his 100th victory, Chris Iannetta had a two-run single and scored on a wild pitch during a crazy eight-run rally in the fourth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels moved up in the AL playoff race with an 11-3 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Orioles 4, Mariners 2 (18): Taylor Teagarden stroked a pinch-hit RBI single to right in the 18th inning to help give the Baltimore Orioles a 4-2 comeback victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The win allowed the Orioles (84-64) to pull within a percentage point of the Yankees (83-63) for the lead in the AL East.

The Yankees were rained out Tuesday and will play a split double-header with Toronto Wednesday.

Baltimore maintained a three-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels for the wild-card spot. The Angels beat Texas in Anaheim Tuesday, 11-3. — Agencies