Konerko's homer lifts White Sox over Braves

Paul Konerko homered with two outs in the eighth inning Thursday, lifting the Chicago White Sox to their ninth straight victory, 2-0, over the Atlanta Braves.

Gavin Floyd, J.J. Putz (3-2) and Bobby Jenks combined on a two-hitter for the White Sox, who have their longest winning streak since 2006 and have won 13 of their last 14.

The Braves came into the series with five consecutive wins and a 34-14 record the previous seven weeks but were handed their first sweep since April.

Takashi Saito (1-3) relieved Derek Lowe to begin the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Juan Pierre. After a sacrifice and a flyout, Konerko homered to leftfield.

"A few weeks ago . . . there's no easy way to say it, but it just wasn't very fun around here," Konerko said. "We've got smiles on our faces now. It's fun again, which is nice. The longer you can keep baseball from becoming a job, the better."

Phillies 12, Indians 3

Joe Blanton (3-5) pitched effectively into the eighth inning and host Philadelphia roughed up Fausto Carmona (6-6) to complete a three-game sweep.

Placido Polanco had four hits, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth each had three hits and catcher Dane Sardinha connected for his first career home run for the Phillies. A thunderstorm pounded the field with two outs in the eighth, causing a delay of 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Rays 5, Padres 3

Matt Garza (8-5) pitched eight effective innings and Kelly Shoppach came within a triple of hitting for the cycle for host Tampa Bay. The Rays also got home runs from B.J. Upton and Carlos Peña.

Oscar Salazar homered for San Diego, which won two of three in the series. Rays leftfielder Carl Crawford left after the second inning because of left shoulder soreness.

Orioles 11, Marlins 5

Miguel Tejada had a season-high four hits, ended a long home run drought and drove in four runs to lead host Baltimore. Adam Jones had three hits and a homer, backup catcher Craig Tatum had a career-high three hits and Luke Scott two RBIs for the Orioles.

Brewers 5, Twins 0

Yovani Gallardo did not allow a baserunner until Drew Butera singled with one out in the sixth inning as host Milwaukee completed a sweep of Minnesota. Gallardo (7-3) tied a career high with 12 strikeouts in his second career shutout. Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks homered for the Brewers.

Blue Jays 5, Cardinals 0

Vernon Wells homered twice and Adam Lind once to back Brandon Morrow (5-5), who pitched eight innings for host Toronto.

Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo was knocked down after getting hit in the chest by a Morrow pitch in the eighth inning. It appeared Morrow and catcher Jose Molina were crossed up on a 1-and-0 offering to Matt Holliday, who swung and missed. Randazzo was OK.

Cubs 3, Mariners 2

Marlon Byrd singled and drove in Alfonso Soriano with the tiebreaking run in the 13th inning to help visiting Chicago avoid a sweep.- AP