Shelley Duncan #47 of the Cleveland Indians is congratulated by Jason Donald #16 and Carlos Santana #41 of the Cleveland Indians after hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning during a game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on September 4, 2011 in Kansas City, Missouri.
(September 3, 2011 – Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images North America)
(PhatzRadio / TGM Sports) - Kansas City, Mo. — Shelley Duncan had a career high five RBIs on a pair of homers into the gusting wind, Asdrubal Cabrera returned to the lineup to drive in two more runs and Cleveland held off the Royals.
Duncan hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and a two-run shot in the eighth for his third career multihomer game. Jason Donald and Jerad Head also had RBIs for the Indians (70-67), who surpassed their win total from last season as they try to keep pace with Detroit in the AL Central.
Jeanmar Gomez (2-2) was effective again in his second start since getting recalled from Triple-A Columbus, allowing six hits and only Mike Moustaksas’ RBI groundout in 5 1-3 innings.
Jeff Francis (5-15) couldn’t end his home woes. He allowed four runs — all in the first two innings — and nine hits over five shaky innings, and still hasn’t tasted victory at Kauffman Stadium since May 31.
Anaheim, Calif. — Joel Pineiro posted his first victory in almost two months and Bobby Abreu homered, leading the Angels to a win in the rubber game of the weekend series.
Pineiro (6-6) allowed a run and five hits over seven innings. The right-hander, making his third start since a brief demotion to the bullpen, was 0-3 with a whopping 10.30 ERA in six starts since beating Seattle 9-3 on July 9 at Angel Stadium.
Kevin Slowey (0-4) allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings for Minnesota. Twins catcher Joe Mauer returned to the lineup as the designated hitter, going 1 for 2 with a homer and two walks after missing two games because of an upper respiratory infection.
Oakland, Calif. — David DeJesus and Ryan Sweeney each drove in two runs, Hideki Matsui doubled three times and the Athletics completed a three-game sweep.
Kurt Suzuki, Brandon Allen and Josh Willingham also drove in runs for the A’s, who won their third straight following a five-game losing streak.
Trevor Cahill (10-13) allowed a run and five hits over five innings to improve to 1-4 with a 6.46 ERA over his last seven starts. Andrew Bailey pitched the ninth for his 19th save in 21 chances.
Dustin Ackley hit a two-run homer and Ichiro Suzuki drove in a run for the Mariners, who have dropped four straight games. Luis Rodriguez added a two-run single.
Blake Beavan (3-5) pitched five innings for Seattle and was charged with four runs and seven hits.
St. Petersburg, Fla. — Jeremy Hellickson threw a four-hitter, Reid Brignac had three RBIs and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-1 on Sunday.
Hellickson (12-10) has two complete games this season, both against the Orioles. The rookie right-hander tossed a four-hitter in a 3-0 win against Baltimore on May 13.
Tampa Bay scored four times with two out in the third to take a 6-0 lead. Evan Longoria came home when third baseman Mark Reynolds misplayed Brandon Guyer’s grounder, and Brignac followed with a three-run double.
Adam Jones hit his 23rd homer of the season for the Orioles.
Boston — Josh Hamilton capped Texas’ seven-run sixth inning with a bases-loaded triple and Matt Harrison had a solid start, carrying the Texas Rangers to a 11-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Ian Kinsler homered, drove in three runs and made a stellar defensive play for the AL West-leading Rangers, who took two of three in a weekend series that continued the trend of lopsided games between the teams this season.
Boston went 4-5 on its nine-game homestand and fell to 1 1/2 games behind AL East-leading New York, which beat Toronto 9-3 on Sunday.
Marco Scutaro had a two-run single for the Red Sox.
New York — Derek Jeter tied a career high with five RBIs, CC Sabathia earned his 19th win and the New York Yankees polished off a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 9-3 victory Sunday.
Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher all homered for the AL East leaders, while Sabathia struck out 10 in 7 1-3 innings to win his seventh consecutive start against Toronto.
One big reason for that success: Sabathia has dominated his matchups with slugger Jose Bautista. The major league home run leader is 0 for 18 with eight strikeouts against the big lefty after going hitless in three tries Sunday.
Bautista did hit a colossal homer off Rafael Soriano in the eighth, cutting it to 5-3 and joining Carlos Delgado (1999, 2000) as the only Blue Jays to sock 40 home runs in successive seasons.
