CLEVELAND - The Indians pulled within one game of the Central lead, scoring four runs in the first and beating the Twins 7-1 on Saturday behind home runs by Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez.
The Indians, who have not shared the division lead this late in a season since 2001, have won six in a row and 10 of 11, gaining seven games on the Twins in 10 days. Minnesota, which has lost eight of 10, had a season-high six-game lead over the Indians and White Sox entering Monday's games.
Jake Westbrook won for the fifth time in six starts. He was helped by inning-ending double plays in the fourth and fifth.
Omar Vizquel singled with one out in the first, and Hafner followed with a homer. Two batters later, Casey Blake homered to make it 3-0. Ben Broussard followed with a walk and scored on Ronnie Belliard's double, his major league-leading 41st, off the leftfield wall.
Martinez's three-run homer in the fifth made it 7-0.
A'S 6, ROYALS 1: Mark Kotsay made a run-saving catch to preserve a tie then homered to lead off the ensuing half-inning for host Oakland, which ended a three-game losing streak.
With the score 1-1 and Aaron Guiel on second with one out in the sixth, Ruben Mateo blooped a ball into shallow centerfield. Kotsay charged, made a sliding catch and threw to second for the double play.
Kotsay then led off the bottom half with a drive to left-centerfield for a 2-1 lead. Eric Byrnes blooped a double into centerfield. One out later, Jermaine Dye reached on an error, and Brian Anderson was replaced after walking Scott Hatteberg to load the bases.
Damian Miller hit Scott Sullivan's first pitch for a double to clear the bases and make it 5-1. Miller is 7-for-14 with 15 RBIs with the bases loaded this season. Miller scored on Marco Scutaro's single.
YANKEES 6, MARINERS 4: John Olerud's two-run single in the eighth broke a tie for visiting New York. Shigetoshi Hasegawa hit Gary Sheffield with a pitch leading off the eighth then allowed a double to Bernie Williams that put runners on second and third. George Sherrill relieved and retired Hideki Matsui on a grounder to first then intentionally walked Ruben Sierra to face Olerud. His single to right made it 6-4.
RED SOX 4, WHITE SOX 3: David Ortiz's second homer of the game broke an eighth-inning tie and Curt Schilling got his first home win in seven weeks for Boston. Schilling gave up consecutive first-inning homers to Timo Perez and Carlos Lee but improved to 8-1 at Fenway Park. He had been 0-1 in three home starts since June 27.
Ortiz and Manny Ramirez hit consecutive homers for the third time this season, making it 2-2 in the fourth against Jon Garland. Boston went ahead later in the inning when Kevin Millar doubled and scored on Jason Varitek's single.
ANGELS 11, TIGERS 8: Chone Figgins hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and drove in four runs for host Anaheim. Figgins' fourth homer of the season made it 8-6 and triggered a five-run sixth. Run-scoring singles by Jose Guillen and Tim Salmon and a sacrifice fly by Garret Anderson gave the Angels an 11-6 lead.
Down 11-8, Detroit loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. But Brendan Donnelly struck out Carlos Guillen. Then Francisco Rodriguez struck out Ivan Rodriguez and Rondell White.
BLUE JAYS 7, ORIOLES 2: Josh Towers won for the sixth time in seven starts for host Toronto, which ended a four-game losing streak. Towers, 27, improved to 16-5 in 27 games with Toronto. He was 8-10 for Baltimore in 2001 but went 0-3 in 2002 before being sent down and, eventually, released.
Up 3-1 in the fifth, Orlando Hudson led off the fifth with a double. John Parrish relieved Joe Borkowski and retired Vernon Wells, walked Carlos Delgado and struck out Frank Menechinoto. But Eric Hinske singled home Hudson, and Delgado scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.
