The Detroit Tigers roared from behind on Placido Polanco's three-run, eighth-inning homer to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 and give Justin Verlander his 15th win of the season on Sunday. Polanco drilled a two-out pitch off reliever Grant Balfour over the left field fence to rally the American League Central Division leaders from a 3-1 deficit.
Verlander (15-7) worked eight innings to join the Yankees' CC Sabathia as the league's only 15-game winners. The right-hander survived a pair of fourth-inning home runs by the Rays while striking out four and walking three. He gave up six hits. Curtis Granderson's third-inning single put the Tigers on the scoreboard first. Tampa Bay responded with Evan Longoria's solo homer and a two-run blast by Akinori Iwamura in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead before Verlander stopped their dangerous onslaught.
"That's as good as it gets. Bottom of the eighth inning, home crowd, down a run or whatever it is, and all of sudden you get that one that puts you ahead," the Tigers' manager Jim Leyland said. "That's big to send everyone home happy. Those are dramatic-type things, and they happen in a game - you just don't know when they're going to happen." John Lackey allowed only one unearned run as American League West table-toppers Los Angeles Angels dominated Oakland.
Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales each hit a three-run homer in the 9-1 victory, with Morales setting a team record of 33 RBIs in August. The New York Yankees claimed their third successive victory over Chicago White Sox, Randy Williams and Scott Linebrink giving up five runs in the seventh inning to go down 8-3. Paul Byrd allowed only three hits over six shut-out innings on his season debut to lead Boston Red Sox to a three-game sweep of Toronto Raptors. Kevin Youkilis drove in three runs and Rocco Baldelli homered as the Red Sox ran out 7-0 winners.
Nelson Cruz's two-run homer put Texas Rangers in control against Minnesota but CJ Wilson gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in the eighth as the Twins came through to triumph 5-3. Zack Greinke starred for Kansas City in their 3-0 win over Seattle while Baltimore defeated Cleveland 5-2. The Los Angeles Dodgers needed 12 innings to see off the challenge of Cincinnati 3-2.
The National League West pacesetters were grateful to Matt Kemp, who drove in the Dodgers' first run with his 21st homer and the last with a sacrifice fly, giving him 85 RBIs this season. Adam Wainwright tossed six frames of one-run balls en route to his MLB-leading 16th win as NL Central leaders St Louis edged Washington 2-1. Another man in form was Nelson Figueroa, who struck out a career-best 10 batters as the New York Mets defeated Chicago Cubs 4-1.
Philadelphia extended their NL East lead over Atlanta to eight games with a tight 3-2 victory against the Braves. For the second time in his career, Edgar Renteria belted a grand slam as San Francisco claimed a share of the Wild Card lead and completed a sweep of Colorado, triumphing 9-5. Florida beat San Diego 6-4, Milwaukee saw off Pittsburgh for the third consecutive time 4-1 and Arizona were 4-3 winners over Houston.
* With agencies
