Felix Hernandez outduels Jon Lester in Mariners' 2-1 win over Athletics

If the Seattle Mariners can get into the AL wild-card game against Jon Lester and the Oakland Athletics, they'll be plenty confident with King Felix on the mound.

Kyle Seager and Corey Hart homered leading off the seventh inning to back Felix Hernandez's stellar start, and the Mariners rallied to beat the A's, 2-1, yesterday to win the rubber game of the three-game series between playoff contenders.

Adam Dunn's homer in the fourth accounted for the only run Hernandez (14-5) allowed in eight innings. The righthander gave up three hits, struck out four and walked two to outduel Lester (13-10) in a matchup of two of the AL's best pitchers.

Blue Jays 7, Rays 4: Dioner Navarro and Edwin Encarnacion each hit two-run home runs as visiting Toronto won its fourth straight. Patchogue-Medford's Marcus Stroman pitched five shutout innings for the Blue Jays before giving up two runs and four hits in the sixth.

Royals 4, Rangers 1: Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer as host Kansas City extended its lead to 1 1/2 games over the Tigers in the AL Central.

Indians 7, Tigers 0: Danny Salazar pitched his first career shutout as host Cleveland beat Justin Verlander (12-12), who allowed seven runs in 62/3 innings.

Astros 4, Angels 1: Chris Carter homered twice for host Houston.

Nationals 8, Dodgers 5: Adam LaRoche came off the bench in the ninth inning and drove in five runs, including a tying homer and later a go-ahead grounder in the 14th for visiting Washington. Asdrubal Cabrera added a two-run shot in the final inning for the Nationals.

Cardinals 1, Pirates 0: Peter Bourjos singled home the winning run in the ninth as host St. Louis won its fifth straight.

Braves 7, Phillies 4:B.J. Upton hit a two-run homer in the second as host Atlanta ended a 25-inning scoreless streak.

Cubs 6, Brewers 2: Rookie Jorge Soler became the second player in Cubs history with as many as 10 RBIs in his first seven games. Visiting Milwaukee lost its eighth straight.

Rockies 9, Giants 2: Nolan Arenado hit a go-ahead three- run homer in the fifth and Corey Dickerson followed with his second homer for host Colorado.

Bosch to plead guilty

Former Biogenesis owner Anthony Bosch is expected to plead guilty at an October hearing to a drug distribution conspiracy charge in Major League Baseball's most recent performance-enhancing substances scandal. A Miami federal judge yesterday set an Oct. 16 date for Bosch to enter the plea. -- AP