Britton Ks 10 as Oâ??s top Sox

BALTIMORE — Zach Britton struck out a career-high 10 in eight innings, Taylor Teagarden and Adam Jones homered and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 Thursday for their eighth win in 11 games.

Baltimore took three of four from the AL Central-leading White Sox to complete a 5-1 homestand that started with a two-game sweep of Toronto.

The victory moved the Orioles (72-58) within three games of the idle AL East-leading New York Yankees, who host Baltimore in a three-game series that begins Friday night.

Britton (4-1) gave up one run, seven hits and did not issue a walk. He fanned Dewayne Wise three times and eclipsed his previous single-game career high of seven strikeouts by the fifth inning.

CLEVELAND — Jarrod Parker pitched into the sixth inning and Oakland hit four home runs, leading the Athletics to their sixth straight win, a victory over the free-falling Indians and a sweep of the four-game series.

Oakland, which has won eight of nine, maintained its one-game lead over Baltimore for the top spot in the AL wild card race. George Kottaras' three-run double broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth while Coco Crisp, Cliff Pennington, Josh Reddick and Josh Donaldson homered.

MINNEAPOLIS — Blake Beavan gave up two runs in seven innings and Trayvon Robinson drove in two runs to lift the Mariners over the Twins.

Beavan (9-8) scattered five hits, walked two and struck out one.

Kyle Seager also drove in two runs for the Mariners, who have won 11 of their last 15 games.

TORONTO — Carlos Villanueva pitched six sharp innings and the Toronto Blue Jays beat slumping Tampa Bay, snapping a five-game losing streak against the Rays.

Tampa Bay lost for the fifth time in six games and dropped 1 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild-card berth. The Rays have been shut out twice in the past three games, losing 1-0 at Texas on Tuesday night.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jeremy Guthrie pitched effectively into the eighth inning and Alex Gordon homered to lead the Kansas City Royals over the Detroit Tigers 2-1 Thursday night for a three-game sweep.