NEW YORK — Two harmless singles. Four balls out of the infield. One runner who reached second base. Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers looked uncharacteristically feeble against Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda pitched a two-hitter against the top offensive team in baseball and New York got consecutive homers from Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira in a 3-0 victory Tuesday. “He was tough,” Hamilton said. “Anybody is going to be tough if they don't really have to throw strikes to get you out. He didn't expand the zone a lot, but he expanded it just enough to get us swinging. So he did a good job.” Kuroda held Texas hitless until Elvis Andrus' infield single leading off the seventh, outpitching All-Star lefty Matt Harrison in a crisp duel at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander walked two and struck out five in his fourth career shutout and second this season. He threw 74 of 109 pitches for strikes. Angels 9, Indians 6: Zack Greinke won for the first time in four starts since being acquired by the Angels, Albert Pujols homered and drove in four runs and Los Angeles beat the Cleveland Indians. Orioles 7, Red Sox 1: It's payback time for the Baltimore Orioles, who have dominated the Boston Red Sox this season being bullied by their AL East rivals for the better part of years. Mark Reynolds homered twice and drove in four runs, Omar Quintanilla also went deep, and Baltimore beat Josh Beckett and the Red Sox. Royals 5, Athletics 0: Jeremy Guthrie allowed only three singles in seven innings, and the Kansas City Royals rolled to a win over the Oakland Athletics. Guthrie, who struck out a season-high eight, ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings. He has yielded eight hits and struck out 14 in his past two starts, victories over the A's and the Chicago White Sox. Tigers 8, Twins 4: Miguel Cabrera became the first player to reach 100 RBIs this season with a run-scoring single and Doug Fister pitched eight strong innings for the Detroit Tigers in a win over the Minnesota Twins. Fister (7-7) did not allow an earned run and struck out seven to win for the third time in four starts. White Sox 3, Blue Jays 2: Jose Quintana snapped a five-start winless streak and the Chicago White Sox held off the Toronto Blue Jays for a rare victory at Rogers Centre. The AL Central leaders won in Toronto for just the fourth time in 21 games dating to 2007. Mariners 3, Rays 2: Eric Thames' two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Seattle Mariners victory and snapped the Tampa Bay Rays' seven-game winning streak. — Agencies
