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BOSTON - Bronson Arroyo gave the surging Red Sox another strong start, allowing six hits in 71/3 innings in a 4-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
The former Hernando High standout gave up only an unearned run and has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 11 of his past 14 starts, giving Boston a solid starter to go with Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez.
Boston remained 51/2 games behind the East-leading Yankees by winning for the ninth time in 10 games and improving to a season-best 20 games over .500.
Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his 24th save in 29 chances, completing a six-hitter.
Former Devil Ray Jason Johnson gave up three runs, two earned, and nine hits in five innings.
Boston scored in the first on David Ortiz's double and took the lead for good 2-1 on Dave Roberts' sacrifice fly in the fourth after Bill Mueller's double.
Arroyo made that stand up. Starting with the leadoff batter in the fifth, he got six of the next seven outs on strikeouts.
On July 19 in a loss to Seattle, the right-hander got 11 consecutive outs by strikeout and finished with a career-high 12. Since then he is 4-2 with 38 strikeouts and nine walks.
Both his walks were in the first. Two of his inning-ending strikeouts came with two runners.
Detroit tied it with an unearned run in the third on an odd play. Omar Infante doubled leading off and took third on Bobby Higginson's fly out. Catcher Doug Mirabelli then tried to throw Infante out at third after a pitch to Ivan Rodriguez, but the throw hit Rodriguez's bat and Infante scored.
Boston manager Terry Francona argued in vain with plate umpire John Hirschbeck.
Kevin Millar hit into a run-scoring double play in the fifth after Manny Ramirez doubled and Ortiz singled. Mark Bellhorn added a run-scoring single in the eighth off Jamie Walker.
RANGERS 8, TWINS 3: Chan Ho Park pitched six strong innings in his return from the disabled list, and host Texas equaled its win total from last season with No. 71.
Hank Blalock homered for the fifth time in six games. He and Alfonso Soriano each had three RBIs for the Rangers, who are 21/2 games behind first-place Oakland in the West.
Park allowed two runs and four hits to win for the first time since May 12 against the Devil Rays. He struck out four and walked three. The right-hander went on the disabled list May 20 with a sore back.
YANKEES 7, BLUE JAYS 4: Alex Rodriguez finally came through in the clutch, hitting a go-ahead single in the ninth to help visiting New York rally.
After the Yankees came back from a 4-0 deficit to tie, Derek Jeter drew a leadoff walk from Jason Frasor in the ninth. Gary Sheffield doubled before Rodriguez lined an 0-and-2 pitch down the leftfield line for a two-run single and a 6-4 lead.
Rodriguez entered the at-bat hitting .197 (23-for-117) with runners in scoring position. He grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the fifth, falling to 0-for-10 with the bases loaded this season.
A'S 9, ORIOLES 4: Erubiel Durazo hit a three-run homer and Eric Chavez also connected for host Oakland, which completed a four-game sweep. Baltimore has lost 10 straight overall, its longest skid since it ended the 2002 season with 12 losses. Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada, who signed with the A's at 17 out of the Dominican Republic, went 1-for-15 in the series. He ended an 0-for-13 stretch with a bloop single leading off the sixth, then got thrown out at second trying to extend it.
WHITE SOX 14, INDIANS 9: Carl Everett homered and drove in four to lead visiting Chicago. Ben Davis hit a two-run homer and Juan Uribe also homered for the White Sox, who won for the second time in eight games and tied Cleveland for second in the Central.
ROYALS 7, MARINERS 3: Ichiro Suzuki became the first player to reach 200 hits in each of his first four seasons when he homered in the ninth inning, but Abraham Nunez hit his second grand slam in two weeks to lift visiting Kansas City.