New York Yankees batter Nick Swisher follows through on his swing as he hits a grand slam home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during their MLB game at Yankee Stadium in New York Thursday. — Reuters NEW YORK – Streaking Ichiro Suzuki hit a go-ahead, two-run double in a seven-run fourth inning capped by Nick Swisher's grand slam, and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-7 to open a one-game AL East lead over idle Baltimore. After struggling for much of the summer, the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays and have won five in a row, their longest winning string since June 23-27. Backed by an 8-2 lead, Phil Hughes (16-12) lasted just five innings. Toronto trailed 10-4 before a three-run eighth. David Robertson got three outs for his second save this season and first since May 8. New York was down 2-0 before Suzuki's solo home run in the third. He hooked a based-loaded double to right in the fourth on an 0-2 pitch, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead and extending Suzuki's spurt to nine hits in 10 at-bats. That chased starter Aaron Laffey (3-6), and reliever Brad Lincoln loaded the bases with a walk to Jayson Nix. Derek Jeter followed with an RBI for a 14-game hitting streak, and Swisher sent a 96 mph fastball into the right-field seats for his seventh career slam and third this season. Athletics 12, Tigers 4: Seth Smith homered, doubled and drove in four runs, and the Oakland Athletics avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Detroit Tigers 12-4 in a matchup of AL playoff contenders. Oakland is tied with Baltimore for the wild-card lead. The Tigers are two games behind Central-leading Chicago. Rangers 3, Angels 1: Adrian Beltre hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Angels closer Ernesto Frieri in the ninth inning, and the Rangers dealt yet another blow to Los Angeles' fading playoff hopes. Yu Darvish (16-9) held the Angels to four hits and struck out nine in a scintillating eight-inning duel with Zack Greinke, who gave up five hits and struck out eight. Beltre then rewarded Darvish with his 34th homer to left field off Frieri (3-2), who wasted a phenomenal start by Greinke for the second time in six days. Joe Nathan earned his 34th save. Royals 4, White Sox 3: Alex Rios was thrown out at the plate, Alexei Ramirez was picked off third base and the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox again failed to come up with a clutch hit in a 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Eric Hosmer singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning. The White Sox stayed two games ahead of Detroit, which lost in the afternoon to Oakland, with 13 games remaining. Jesse Crain (2-3) took the loss. Greg Holland (7-4) worked a scoreless ninth for the victory. Indians 4, Twins 3: Casey Kotchman hit an RBI single with the bases loaded in the 10th inning and the Cleveland Indians topped Minnesota. Pinch hitter Shin-Soo Choo doubled off the wall in left-center to start the inning against reliever Anthony Swarzak (3-5). Choo took third on Jason Kipnis' groundout before Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley were intentionally walked to load the bases. Kotchman fouled off the first pitch before bouncing a ground ball up the middle against the drawn-in infield for his third hit of the game. Esmil Rogers (3-1) pitched a perfect inning for the win. Both teams used five pitchers. Rays 7, Red Sox 4: B.J. Upton hit a game-ending, three-run homer off Vicente Padilla, capping Tampa Bay's six-run ninth inning and lifting the Rays to a sorely needed 7-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay salvaged a split of the four-game series and remained 5½ games back of Oakland for the second AL wild-card slot. — Agencies
