Tigers' lead reaches 10 games
The Detroit Tigers tagged an ailing Francisco Liriano again to open a double-digit lead in the AL Central. The Chicago White Sox need much more from Mark Buehrle if they want to stay in the wild-card race.
Still hampered by soreness in his left forearm, Liriano was roughed up Monday night during Detroit's 9-3 victory over the visiting Twins. Minnesota's rookie sensation gave up four runs and a season-high 10 hits in four innings, leaving him with a 7.63 ERA against the Tigers this season and 1.39 against all other teams.
"It started bothering me in the second inning," Liriano said. "It really bothered me. I couldn't throw fastball, changeup, slider or anything."
After facing Detroit on July 28, Liriano (12-3) missed his next scheduled start because of inflammation in his forearm. But the rest hardly seemed to help — he gave up a long homer to Marcus Thames and an RBI double to Magglio Ordonez.
"It's a muscular problem. As the game was going on, he started to feel it," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We had him checked out before, and everything was fine, but we'll have him checked out again."
Zach Miner (7-2) won the matchup of promising rookies, allowing three runs in 6 1-3 innings. The Tigers (76-36) have won four straight and six of seven to move a season-best 40 games over .500.
The World Series champion White Sox didn't expect to be 10 games back of Detroit, either, but that's where they are after a 6-3 loss at home to the Los Angeles Angels.
Vladimir Guerrero hit one of three solo homers off a struggling Buehrle, and Kelvim Escobar pitched six solid innings for a rare win against Chicago.
A three-time All-Star, Buehrle (9-10) lost his sixth straight decision and hasn't won since June 27. He came undone in the seventh inning, when the Angels scored three times with two outs to open a 6-2 lead.
At Toronto, Lyle Overbay homered and drove in five runs, and Brian Tallet and two relievers combined on a two-hitter in place of an injured Ted Lilly.
At Oakland, Calif., Mark Ellis drove in four runs with a homer and a bases-loaded double, leading the surging Athletics to their eighth victory in nine games.
At Seattle, Raul Ibanez hit a go-ahead, two-run homer, and the Mariners' bullpen pitched 4 2-3 scoreless innings. J.J. Putz got four outs for his 24th save.
There was nothing rusty about Jeff Kent's swing.Kent hit an RBI double and a two-run homer in his first game back from the disabled list, and the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to 10 games Monday night with a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.The Dodgers' winning streak, five games shy of the franchise record set in 1924, began after a 1-13 skid coming out of the All-Star breakd.
At Cincinnati, Yadier Molina homered during a five-run first inning and drove in four runs overall for St. Louis.
At Atlanta, Ryan Howard hit his 39th homer to surpass 100 RBIs, and Philadelphia scored five runs in the fifth inning.Howard's two-run shot in the fourth was Philadelphia's first hit of the night and marked the 16th straight game in which the Phillies have gone deep, tying the franchise record set in 2002.
At Phoenix, Jason Schmidt hit one of San Francisco's six home runs and pitched the Giants to a victory over Arizona.
