Tigers beat Royals to pull into first-place tie with White Sox

Anibal Sanchez threw his first shutout in more than a year, and the Detroit Tigers moved into a tie for first place in the American League Central with a 2-0 victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals last night.

Detroit pulled even with the White Sox with eight games to play after Chicago lost, 4-3, to Cleveland earlier in the day.

Sanchez (4-6) retired the first 11 hitters and allowed only three hits. He struck out 10.

The White Sox opened the door for the Tigers to tie things up after Gordon Beckham hit into a game-ending forceout with the potential tying run on second base against the last-place Indians.

Athletics 3, Rangers 2: George Kottaras hit a leadoff homer in the 10th inning as visiting Oakland moved within four games of first-place Texas in the AL West.

Angels 5, Mariners 4: Zack Greinke had 13 strikeouts in five innings for the host Angels. The Angels totaled 20 strikeouts, matching a major-league record for a nine-inning game.

Rays 5, Red Sox 2: David Price (19-5) struck out a season-high 13 and Tampa Bay remained three games behind Oakland for the AL's second wild-card spot.

Braves 4, Marlins 3: Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth as Atlanta clinched a wild-card berth.

Cardinals 4, Astros 0: Visiting St. Louis won its fourth straight and moved 41/2 games ahead of Milwaukee and Los Angeles for the second NL wild card.

D-backs 7, Giants 2: Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run homer and two sacrifice flies to boost the visiting Diamondbacks

Padres 2, Dodgers 1: Josh Beckett (1-3) lost for the third time in six starts with the Dodgers.

Baker had mini-stroke

Reds manager Dusty Baker had a mini-stroke in addition to his irregular heartbeat last week and will need another week of rest before he rejoins the team.

-- AP