Detroit: Detroit’s Justin Verlander notched up his eighth win of the season yesterday, pitching seven solid innings as the Tigers solidified their place at the top of the American League Central with a 7-5 win over the slumping Cleveland Indians.
The Indians (30-30) have lost five on the trot, allowing the Tigers (33-26) to open up a three and a half game lead in the division.
Victor Martinez finished a triple shy of the cycle, hammering an important home run for Detroit against his former team.
National League Central leaders St. Louis strengthened their position with a 9-2 demolition of Cincinnati.
The Cardinals (40-21) were the first in the majors to 40 wins thanks to David Freese, Jon Jay and Pete Kozma, who combined for six hits and seven RBIs to give St. Louis a four game lead over the Reds (36-25) and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Russell Martin scored a run and drove in another as the Pirates produced a major league leading 10th shutout, beating the Chicago Cubs 2-0.
Francisco Liriano pitched seven innings allowing just two hits, striking out eight as the Pirates (36-25) stayed in touch while the Cubs (24-34) sunk deeper in the mire.
It took a Desmond Jennings two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to interrupt Jason Hammel’s shutout bid and help edge the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Tampa Bay (33-27) are fourth in the AL East but still have the Orioles (34-27), New York Yankees (35-26) and Red Sox (37-24) within reach. The Yankees fell 4-1 to Seattle (27-35).
The other AL East team, Toronto (26-34), upset the Texas Rangers (36-24) 6-1, helped by a Melky Cabrera home run, one of three hits to go with his two RBIs.
It allowed the Oakland Athletics (38-25) to steal the AL West lead after their 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox (25-34) yesterday.
Nolan Arenado produced a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to help the Colorado Rockies (33-29) to a 10-9 win over San Diego (28-33) in the NL West.
But the Arizona Diamondbacks (35-26) stayed on top with 3-1 win over San Francisco (31-29).
The Los Angeles Dodgers (27-33) beat the high flying Atlanta Braves (37-24) for the second night running with a 2-1 win in 10 innings after Skip Schumaker scored on a wild pitch. REUTERS
