Ex Yanks help Twins beat the Yankees

NEW YORK (AP) — Phil Hughes pitched eight poised innings in his return to New York and wound up a winner when the Minnesota Twins

rallied past the Yankees 7-2 Sunday behind big hits from Josh Willingham and Brian Dozier in a six-run ninth.

Willingham belted a tying homer on the first pitch from closer David Robertson, denying rookie Chase Whitley his first major league victory. Robertson (0-2) then walked two batters and gave up Dozier's two-out double, putting the Twins on top 3-2.

Eduardo Nunez, also let go by the Yankees, lined a two-run double on Matt Daley's first pitch. Oswaldo Arcia added a two-run single off Matt Thornton to make it 7-2, all but sealing Minnesota's second victory in the three-game series.

Hughes (6-1) held his former team to three hits — all in a row to begin the fourth — and retired his final 15 batters during his sixth straight win.

Buehrle gets No. 10

UNDATED (AP) — Mark Buehrle and Edwin Encarnacion are two major reasons for the Toronto Blue Jays' renaissance this season. Both contributed to a 4-0 shutout of Kansas City, which gives them a split of the four-game series.

Buehrle is the majors' first 10-game winner of the season after allowing six hits in eight innings. He lowered his ERA to 2.10 and won his sixth straight decision to improve to 10-1. Only Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has a better earned run average among all AL pitchers.

Encarnacion launched a two-run blast in the eighth inning, giving him 19 home runs for the season. Encarnacion, who matched Mickey Mantle's AL record with 16 home runs in May.

The Jays have won 16 of their last 20 since May 11 and 34-24 this season, good for a 3 ½-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East. It's their largest division lead since 2009.

— Jon Lester pitched seven shutout innings and Brock Holt drove in two runs with one of his four doubles to lead the Red Sox to their seventh straight win, 4-0 over Tampa Bay. The winning streak follows a 10-game skid, allowing Boston to tie a major league record for consecutive wins after a double-digit losing streak.

— Baltimore's Manny Machado hit his first career grand slam and David Lough homered and had three RBIs in a 9-4 rout of Houston. Orioles slugger Nelson Cruz left in the third inning with a bruised left hand after being hit by a pitch from Scott Feldman. Cruz who leads the majors with 20 home runs and 52 RBIs.

— Oakland finished up a three-game sweep as Jed Lowrie homered and had two RBIs in a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The Athletics lead the AL West by 4 1/2 games over the Angels, their largest pre-All-Star break lead since being 5 1/2 up in 1990.

— Rookie Roenis Elias pitched a three-hitter for the first career complete game as Seattle blanked Detroit 4-0. Elias had never gone more than seven innings before he struck out eight and walked one in his 12th major league start.

— Cleveland completed a three-game sweep by beating Colorado 6-4 on Michael Bourn's two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. Indians starter Josh Tomlin left with a 4-3 lead after matching a career high with eight strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings.

— The Chicago White Sox were 4-1 winners against San Diego behind Chris Sale's two-hitter and Paul Konerko's homer. Sale struck out nine and improved to 5-0 with a 1.59 ERA in seven starts.

— Yu Darvish was masterful in the Rangers' 2-0 shutout of the Nationals in Washington, striking out and allowing five hits in eight innings. Leonys Martin broke a scoreless tie with a seventh-inning homer and Joakim Soria worked a perfect ninth to earn his 11th save and seal the Rangers major league-leading 11th shutout.

— Evan Gattis smacked a two-run homer in the ninth to give Atlanta a 4-2 victory and a three-game sweep of the Marlins in Miami. Shae Simmons earned his first career save in his second big league appearance when he retired Christian Yelich with two on for the final out.

— Tim Hudson is 6-2 after scaterring three hits over seven innings of San Francisco's 8-0 romp at St. Louis. Joaquin Arias hit a two-run single in the first and finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs after entering the game in an 0-for-14 slump.

— Andrew McCutchen went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, two doubles and three runs scored as Pittsburgh downed the Dodgers 5-3 in Los Angeles. Josh Harrison also homered and Pedro Alvarez had three RBIs in the Pirates' eighth victory in 12 games.

— Kyle Lohse allowed only three hits and Ryan Braun had a two-run homer to lead the Brewers to a 9-0 rout of the Cubs. Milwaukee pounded Cubs ace Jeff Samardzija for eight earned runs in three innings, raising his ERA from 1.68 to 2.54.

— Lucas Duda hit a two-run homer with two out in the 11th inning to send the New York Mets to their fifth win in six games, 4-3 over the Phillies in Philadelphia. The two teams have gone past the ninth in three straight games, playing a total of 12 extra innings.

— Zack Cozart, Todd Frazier and Ryan Ludwick hit base-empty homers before Chris Heisey delivered the go-ahead solo shot in the fifth inning of Cincinnati's 4-2 triumph at Arizona. Alfredo Simon is 7-3 after giving up three runs over 6 1/3 innings.

Busy day for the Marlins

UNDATED (AP) — Right-hander Bryan Morris has been traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Miami Marlins for the 39th overall pick in Thursday's draft. Miami also placed catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the seven-day concussion list, one day after he was hurt while taking a foul tip off his face mask.

In other major league player news:

— The Rays have placed right fielder Wil Myers on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained his right wrist. Myers was injured on the final play of a 3-2 loss Friday to the Boston Red Sox when his hand slapped the ground as he landed following a collision with center fielder Desmond Jennings.

— Diamondbacks outfielder A.J. Pollock will have surgery on his fractured right hand in the next few days. Pollock was hit in the hand by the Reds' Johnny Cueto in the eighth inning of Saturday night's 5-0 loss to Cincinnati.