AL: Inge powers Tigers to win

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DETROIT (AP) - Brandon Inge hit a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth and the Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers in their last at-bat for the second straight day, 3-2 on Wednesday.

With one out, Inge hit the first pitch from Darren Oliver (1-1) over the left-field wall. Jose Valverde (2-0) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth for the Tigers.

Texas played its first game since star Josh Hamilton broke his arm. The AL MVP could miss two months after getting hurt Tuesday, when Detroit beat Texas 5-4 on an RBI single in the ninth by Miguel Cabrera. Hamilton was injured while being thrown out at the plate when he tagged up on a foul popup.

Spot starter Dave Bush made it through three scoreless innings, although he allowed three hits and three walks and threw 71 pitches.

Detroit starter Max Scherzer went six innings, allowing two runs and seven hits. He struck out seven and walked two.

Yankees 7, Orioles 4

NEW YORK (AP) - A.J. Burnett remained undefeated in April with the Yankees, pitching effectively into the seventh inning, and Alex Rodriguez hit a three-run homer.

Robinson Cano added a two-run double and Jorge Posada homered for the Yankees, who moved into a tie atop the AL East with the Orioles. Baltimore lost its third in a row.

Derek Jeter matched Barry Bonds for 32nd on the all-time hits list with 2,935 on the day the former slugger was convicted in a San Francisco courtroom of obstruction of justice.

Matt Wieters and Brian Roberts each hit two-run homers in the seventh. Roberts' one-out drive into the Yankees' bullpen in right-center ended the night for Burnett (3-0).

Chris Tillman (0-1) gave up four straight hits to start the first inning, including career homer No. 617 for Rodriguez.

Athletics 7, White Sox 4

CHICAGO (AP) - Oakland scored three times in the ninth inning, then Coco Crisp hit a go-ahead single in a three-run 10th as the Athletics feasted on Chicago's shaky bullpen.

Crisp entered the game in the ninth as a pinch-runner and was in a 3-for-22 slump before singling off Matt Thornton (0-2). The struggling Chicago closer had walked Conor Jackson and Josh Willingham to set up Crisp.

Daric Barton followed with a two-run single, and Thornton was booed as he was walked off the mound and was replaced by Tony Pena.

Cliff Pennington's two-run, bases-loaded single in the ninth off Thornton made it 4-all. It was the third late-inning meltdown by Chicago's bullpen in less than a week, all losses.

Grant Balfour (1-1) pitched the ninth for the win and Brian Fuentes earned his fifth save.

Blue Jays 8, Mariners 3

SEATTLE (AP) - Jose Bautista hit a three-run homer off Seattle reliever Chris Ray, part of Toronto's six-run eighth inning, and the Blue Jays avoided a three-game sweep.

Bautista unloaded on a 2-1 breaking ball that Ray (1-1) left in the middle of the plate, hitting it into the Toronto bullpen in left field - where reliever Jon Rauch caught the homer as he was warming up.

It was Bautista's third homer of the season and snapped an 17-inning scoreless streak by the Mariners' bullpen, ruining a strong start by Seattle lefty Jason Vargas. Toronto sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.

Toronto's Mark Rzepczynski (1-0) worked two innings of hitless relief to get the victory.

Seattle went to its bullpen an inning earlier when Jamey Wright took over for Vargas and got the final out of the seventh. Instead of staying with Wright, manager Eric Wedge went with Ray.

Angels 4, Indians 3, 12 innings

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Jeff Mathis hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 12th inning to score Vernon Wells and list Los Angeles.

Wells singled sharply into the hole off the glove of shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera with one out in the 12th, only his fifth hit in 49 at-bats this season.

Chad Durbin (0-1) walked Alberto Callaspo, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch to Mark Trumbo. An intentional walk to Trumbo loaded the bases.

Mathis hit a fly to medium center field and Wells streaked home ahead of Michael Brantley's throw. Hisanori Takahashi (1-0) posted his first AL victory with two perfect innings.

Ervin Santana, still looking for his first win of the season, gave up three runs and six hits over seven-plus innings and struck out three. The right-hander entered the eighth with a 3-2 lead and departed after giving up a leadoff single to Adam Everett.

Royals 10, Twins 5

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Slumping Mike Aviles doubled twice and drove in three runs as Kansas City became the latest team to tag Minnesota ace Francisco Liriano.

Aviles ended his 0-for-18 rut and Alex Gordon added two hits and drove in two runs. The Royals scored six times in the fourth inning to break open the game.

Kyle Davies (1-1) won despite allowing five runs and 10 hits in five innings. Jeremy Jeffress threw two scoreless innings for his first major league save.

Liriano (0-3) gave up six straight hits during the Royals' big inning. He began the game with a 7.71 ERA after Toronto and the Yankees knocked him around in his first two starts.

Denard Span was 4 for 4 and scored twice for the Twins, who started the day as the lowest-scoring team in the majors.

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