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Branyan's homer spoils Galarraga's solid outing

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DETROIT (AP) -- Russell Branyan and the Seattle Mariners made their few hits payoff.

Branyan hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning to give Felix Hernandez and the Mariners a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.

Branyan drove a 1-0 pitch from Bobby Seay (1-2) into the stands in right-center for his 24th homer -- the last of Seattle's two hits in the game.

"Slider, caught the middle. That's about it," said Branyan, who matched his career high in home runs.

Hernandez (11-3) struck out eight in seven innings, allowing one run and six hits. He overcame a slow start and twisting his ankle in the third.

"He battled his pitch count," Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu said. "He battled and survived to go seven and we could stack up our bullpen with Aardsma and Lowe."

Mark Lowe pitched a perfect eighth and David Aardsma finished for his 23rd save in 25 chances.

Hernandez gave up a single to Curtis Granderson and a hit-and-run single to Placido Polanco, which sent Granderson to third, to start the game.

"They were jumping on the fastball," Hernandez said.

But he quickly righted himself to strike out Miguel Cabrera and Clete Thomas. He then walked Marcus Thames before retiring the side on Josh Anderson's flyout.

"He's tough, because he's got such a good, hard slider," Anderson said. "He threw me a pitch, the gun said 93 with his slider. I don't know if he's got a 90 mph slider, but he did tonight. He threw me a slider, a hard one."

Hernandez twisted his ankle in third when he tried to catch Thames' blooper between himself and second basenman Jose Lopez. He fell and was unable to make the play and Thames was credited with a single.

Wakamatsu and trainer Rick Griffin came out and Hernandez stretched and tested the ankle, finally taking a couple of warmup pitches. He only allowed one hit in 41/3 innings after that.

And when Branyan hit his home run, Hernandez was jumping for joy in the dugout.

"Rick (Griffin) was like, 'You're jumping around. You feel good, huh?"' Hernandez said with a smile after the game.

Armando Galarraga matched Hernandez with a terrific outing for the Tigers, yielding one run and one hit in 71/3 innings.

"I felt good, really good. Sliders, two-seamers, and my location's getting better," he said. "I'm doing good things."

Rangers 3, Red Sox 1

At Arlington, Texas, Dustin Nippert allowed one run while pitching into the sixth inning of a spot start for flu-ridden Vicente Padilla, and Texas completed a three-game sweep of slumping Boston, 3-1.

David Murphy shook off flu-like symptoms with two hits for the Rangers, who swept a series against Boston for the first time since 2004.

Nippert (2-0) threw 94 pitches -- about 25 more than manager Ron Washington had hoped for. Doug Mathis pitched the final 31/3 innings for his first career save.

Clay Buchholz (1-1) allowed three runs and six hits over four innings.

Yankees 6, Orioles 4

At New York, A.J. Burnett won his fourth straight decision and Nick Swisher had a two-run single and made three fine plays to lead the Yankees to their sixth consecutive victory.

Jorge Posada homered and drove in two runs, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single and Mariano Rivera earned his fifth save in six days. The AL East leaders scored four times in the first inning and sent rookie Jason Berken (1-8) to his eighth loss in a row.

Angels 9, Royals 6

At Kansas City, Mo., Maicer Izturis had four RBIs and Los Angeles scored five runs in the eighth inning to complete a three-game sweep.

The AL West-leading Angels (55-38) had 15 hits -- 40 in the three-game series -- to move a season-high 17 games over .500.

Brian Fuentes worked the ninth to join Randy Myers as the only left-handers to get 30 saves in both leagues.

White Sox 4, Rays 3

At Chicago, Alexei Ramirez hit a two-run triple, Jermaine Dye added a go-ahead RBI single and the White Sox pulled within one game of Detroit in the AL Central.

The Rays went through five pitchers in the seventh after Chad Bradford was injured warming up on the mound.

White Sox reliever D.J. Carrasco (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh and Matt Thornton pitched two scoreless innings for his first save of the season.

Athletics 16, Twins 1

At Oakland, Calif., Rajai Davis drove in four runs, Scott Hairston hit a three-run homer and the Athletics had their highest scoring game in nearly two years.

The outburst helped Trevor Cahill (6-8) win for the first time in exactly one month. He allowed a solo homer to Justin Morneau in the first inning and nothing else in the rest of his seven-inning outing.

Blue Jays 10, Indians 6

At Toronto, Marco Scutaro hit two of the Blue Jays' season-best five home runs and matched his career-high with four RBIs.

Scutaro had a solo homer in the fifth and a three-run shot in the sixth, the first multihomer game of his career.

Carl Pavano (8-8), who had won consecutive starts coming in, allowed seven runs as the Indians lost for the ninth time in 13 games.

Astros 4, Cardinals 3

At Houston, Miguel Tejada singled in the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Astros a three-game sweep.

The win pulled the Astros within a game of the NL Central-leading Cardinals after trailing by six games a month ago.

Jose Valverde (1-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.

Cubs 10, Phillies 5

At Philadelphia, Aramis Ramirez and Jeff Baker had two-run doubles and Chicago ended the Phillies' 10-game win streak.

Carlos Zambrano (7-4) won his third straight start for the Cubs, who avoided their first three-game sweep in Philadelphia since 1999.

The NL East-leading Phillies lost for only the second time in 16 games and fell to .500 at home (24-24), failing to extend their longest winning streak in 18 years.

Braves 4, Giants 2

At Atlanta, Jair Jurrjens gave up three hits in 72/3 innings and Yunel Escobar hit a three-run homer for surging Atlanta.

Escobar's third-inning homer gave the Braves a 4-0 lead over Tim Lincecum, who lost for the first time in five weeks.

The Braves are 6-1 since the All-Star break and 10-3 in their last 13 games overall. Jurrjens (9-7) earned his third straight win and set a season high with nine strikeouts while allowing one run.

Lincecum (10-3), the NL's All-Star starter, lost for the first time since June 17 and for the first time in six career starts against the Braves.

Marlins 5, Padres 0

At San Diego, Ricky Nolasco struck out 10 and combined with three relievers on a three-hitter, leading Florida to a three-game sweep.

Chris Coghlan hit a two-run homer off Heath Bell in the ninth and Jeremy Hermida connected leading off the second against Josh Geer. It was the major league-leading 24th home run allowed by Geer (1-6), who has allowed a homer in eight straight starts.

The Padres are 12-33 since June 1, the worst record in the majors over that stretch.

Nolasco (7-7) allowed two hits in 61/3 innings and walked three.

Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 3

At Denver, Todd Helton hit a go-ahead homer off Scott Schoeneweis (1-2) in the eighth inning and drove in a run with his 500th career double.

Carlos Gonzalez had two doubles and scored twice as the Rockies took two of three against the Diamondbacks.

Juan Rincon (2-1) pitched a perfect eighth and Huston Street closed out the ninth for his 24th save in 25 chances.

Pirates 8, Brewers 7

At Pittsburgh, Brandon Moss homered leading off the ninth inning and the Pirates won a series against Milwaukee for the first time in nearly two years.

The Pirates had lost 17 games in a row to Milwaukee and their previous seven series against the Brewers before taking two of three, including an 8-5 win Monday that ended the longest losing streak by one major league team against another in 39 years.

Nationals 3, Mets 1

At Washington, Craig Stammen pitched into the eighth inning and Josh Willingham hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the Nationals' second straight win.

Washington lost its first five games under interim manager Jim Riggleman before beating the Mets 4-0 on Tuesday night.

Stammen (3-5) allowed one run and four hits over 71/3 innings.