AL Capsules

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NEW YORK -- A.J. Pierzynski homered twice, Paul Konerko and Alexei Ramirez also connected and the Chicago White Sox pounded the Yankees so hard that New York brought in outfielder Dewayne Wise to pitch in a 14-7 romp Friday night.

A night after the White Sox rallied to win at Yankee Stadium on Dayan Viciedo's three-run homer in the ninth, they made it a short and sour major league debut for Yankees starter Adam Warren.

By the end, the Yankees brought in Wise for his pro pitching debut. Throwing a 79 mph fastball, he retired Konerko and Alex Rios in order to close a four-run ninth inning.

Rookie Jose Quintana (3-1) fell behind 4-0 in the first inning, then hung in to give the White Sox their fourth straight win in a matchup of AL division leaders.

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RAYS 4, TIGERS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Tampa Bay's Desmond Jennings homered twice and David Price outpitched Justin Verlander to become the AL's first 11-game winner.

The Rays beat the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner for the second time this season, ending a four-game losing streak.

Price (11-4) allowed two runs and five hits before leaving the game because of what the Rays described as lower back tightness after seven innings. He struck out seven and walked one. Price has won three straight decisions.

Jennings went deep against Verlander (8-5) twice and Ben Zobrist hit a solo homer off the Tigers starter, who struck out eight and walked one, throwing 120 pitches and allowing four runs and six hits over six innings.

Delmon Young hit a solo homer off Price.

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BLUE JAYS 7, ANGELS 5

TORONTO -- Adam Lind hit two home runs and Yunel Escobar had a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning for Toronto.

Promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas last Monday after spending more than a month in the minors, Lind hit a three-run homer off Ervin Santana in the third inning, then added a solo drive off Hisanori Takahashi in the seventh. His fourth and fifth homers of the season ended a drought dating to May 9 at Oakland, giving Lind his first multihomer game this season and the eighth of his career.

Escobar went 3 for 4 with two RBIs as the Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak and halted Los Angeles' winning streak at four games.

Francisco Cordero (3-4) worked two-thirds of an inning for the win and Casey Janssen finished for his ninth save.

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ROYALS 4, TWINS 3

MINNEAPOLIS -- Luis Mendoza allowed one run over a career-high eight innings and Salvador Perez homered as Kansas City won its fourth straight.

Yuniesky Betancourt, Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer added RBIs for the Royals (35-39), who are four games under .500 for the first time since April 16. Jonathan Broxton allowed two runs in the ninth, but earned his 20th save.

Joe Mauer had two hits and an RBI double in the ninth that cut Kansas City's lead to 4-2. Josh Willingham followed with an RBI groundout.

Mendoza (3-4) retired the final 13 batters he faced and 18 of the final 20. He struck out five in his first win since May 13, and first as a starter since April 26.

Making his second start of the season, Brian Duensing (1-4) allowed three runs and eight hits and was removed after allowing three straight hits to start the fifth.

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RANGERS 4, ATHLETICS 3

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Craig Gentry's bases-loaded triple in the eighth capped a four-run rally and Matt Harrison pitched eight strong innings to win his 11th game, lifting the Texas Rangers past the Oakland Athletics.

Gentry, who entered in the seventh, lifted a fly ball to deep left off Oakland reliever Ryan Cook that gave the Rangers a 4-2 lead. Yoenis Cespedes appeared to misjudge Gentry's ball as he took a few steps in at first before it flew over his head.

Oakland reliever Grant Balfour (1-2) issued a bases-loaded walk to Nelson Cruz with two outs in the eighth before he was replaced by Cook.

Harrison (11-3) threw a season-high 121 pitches, allowing two runs and eight hits. The left-hander joined Tampa Bay's David Price as the American League's only 11-game winners.

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ORIOLES 9, INDIANS 8

BALTIMORE -- Ryan Flaherty singled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning, Matt Wieters hit a three-run homer, and the Baltimore Orioles broke out of their scoring funk with a victory over the Cleveland Indians.

On a steamy night in which temperatures reached 100 degrees, both teams worked up a sweat circling the bases. Cleveland had a season-high 16 hits, but the Orioles scored just enough runs to secure their third win in 10 games.

Chris Davis started the seventh-inning uprising with a two-out single off Joe Smith (5-2). After Wieters walked, Flaherty delivered an RBI single to right.

Xavier Avery hit his first major league homer in the eighth to make it 9-7.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

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