The Anaheim Angels set the stage for an AL West title showdown against Texas, beating Seattle 3-1 Sunday behind Omar Olivares to move back into a tie in the division race.
The Rangers, who lost 6-3 to Oakland to see their two-game lead evaporate in as many days, travel to Anaheim for a three-game series opening Monday night.
“I know a lot of days we’ve talked about watching the scoreboard, seeing what the Rangers were doing,” said Angels manager Terry Collins. “Now it’s in our yard, in our hands.”
Anaheim scored three runs off Paul Abbott (2-1) in the third. Randy Velarde had a sacrifice fly, and Jim Edmonds and Tim Salmon hit RBI singles. Olivares (9-8) held the Mariners to one run on eight hits in six-plus innings to win his fourth straight decision. Troy Percival pitched the ninth for his 42nd save.
Athletics 6, Rangers 3: Kenny Rogers earned his 15th win, Jason Giambi and Ben Grieve homered, and Oakland scored three unearned runs in Arlington, Texas.
“It’s one of our most disappointing losses,” said Texas manager Johnny Oates. “We didn’t play smart and you’ve got to catch the ball.”
Indians 5, Royals 3: Bartolo Colon (14-8) won for the first time in more than a month and rookie Einar Diaz homered and drove in a season-high three runs for the Indians in Cleveland.
“This was Bartolo’s best outing in the second half of the season,” Indians manager Mike Hargrove said. “I would say he did himself a lot of good as far as possibly starting the first game of the playoffs.”
Mike Jackson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 40th save.
Blue Jays 7, Devil Rays 5: Benito Santiago hit a two-out, two-run single in the 12th as Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak in St. Petersburg, Fla., and closed within four games of Boston for the AL wild card. The Blue Jays have six games left, all at home.
Yankees 5, Orioles 4: New York’s Orlando Hernandez (11-4) allowed one run and five hits in six innings as Cal Ripken’s iron-man streak of playing in 2,632 consecutive games came to an end in Baltimore. The Yankees (107-47) need to go 5-3 in their last eight games to break the AL record of wins in a season set by the 1954 Cleveland Indians.
Twins 3, Tigers 0: Left-hander Benj Sampson combined with three relievers for a four-hitter in Detroit, and Denny Hocking homered as the Twins snapped a 10-game losing streak.
