Santana’s 3 Hits Lead Twins Past Tigers 8-4

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Danny Santana tripled, doubled and drove in two runs as the Minnesota Twins beat Detroit 8-4 Wednesday night to tighten the AL Central race ahead of the Tigers' big weekend series in Kansas City.

Kyle Gibson recovered from a rough start to pitch Minnesota to its second straight win over the division leaders. The Tigers ended the night with a half-game lead over the second-place Royals, who beat the Chicago White Sox 6-2.

Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera went 4 for 5 with a pair of doubles but was thrown out after a costly baserunning mistake in the seventh. With the Twins up 6-4 and Torii Hunter on first, Cabrera hit a one-out double to advance Hunter to third. Victor Martinez grounded to first base and Cabrera — apparently expecting Hunter to break for the plate — was tagged out for an inning-ending double play.

The Twins are off today, beginning a three game series with Cleveland on Friday.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Chattanooga is the new home of the Minnesota Twins' Double-A minor-league affiliate.

The Southern League's Chattanooga Lookouts announced Wednesday that they had signed a four-year player development contract with the Twins. The Twins' previous Double-A home had been in New Britain, Connecticut.

Chattanooga was affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the last six years. The Texas League's Tulsa Drillers announced Wednesday they'd reached an affiliation agreement with the Dodgers.

This marks Chattanooga's first affiliation with an American League organization since 1987, when the Lookouts were partnered with the Seattle Mariners. Chattanooga was the Double-A home for the Cincinnati Reds from 1988-2008 before the Dodgers arrived.

Elsewhere in MLB:

Angels clinch...Royals inch closer to Tigers

UNDATED (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels are the third major league team to win its division, two nights after becoming the first to wrap up a postseason berth.

C.J. Wilson retired his first 14 batters and combined with two relievers on a one-hitter as the AL West champs blanked the Seattle Mariners 5-0. David Freese snapped a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the Angels' five-run seventh before C.J. Cron smacked a three-run homer.

The Mariners fell two games off the AL wild-card pace.

Oakland actually eliminated itself from the AL West race and fell into a tie with Kansas City for the two AL wild-card berths. J.P. Arencibia smacked a tiebreaking, three-run homer off John Doolittle in the ninth inning to lead Texas past the Athletics 6-1. The A's were two outs from a 1-0 win until Rougned Odor hit an RBI double.

Baseball's closest division race got a little tighter. Just a half-game separates the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers from the Kansas City Royals.

Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run homer and Nori Aoki went 3-for-5 with three RBIs as the Royals thumped the Chicago White Sox 6-2. Aoki went 11-for-14 with four ribbies in the series as Kansas City took two of three from the Pale Hose.

Winning pitcher Yordano Ventura allowed a run and three hits while seven strikeouts in seven innings.

— St. Louis still enjoys a 2 ½-game lead over Pittsburgh in the NL Central after Adam Wainwright became the majors' second 19-game winner in the Cardinals' 2-0 shutout of Milwaukee. Matt Adam and Jhonny Peralta each hit RBI singles in the seventh to back Wainwright, who surrendered seven hits in his fifth complete game of the season. The outcome drops the Brewers 2 ½ games behind the Pirates for the second NL wild-card berth.

— Gregory Polanco and Neil Walker hit solo homers before Ike Davis belted a three-run shot in Pittsburgh's 9-1 romp over Boston. Francisco Liriano helped the Pirates take a step toward their second straight NL wild-card berth, holding the Red Sox to a run and three hits in six innings.

— Former Twin Justin Morneau had six RBIs, including a three-run homer and a two-run single while Colorado was scoring eight times in the first inning of a 16-2 laugher against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Charlie Blackmon went 5-for-5 with a solo homer and four runs scored as the last-place Rockies took the rubber match of their three-game set with the first-place Dodgers.

— The Giants are within two games of the NL West-leading Dodgers after Matt Duffy hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the ninth inning to lift San Francisco over the Diamondbacks 4-2 in Arizona. Brandon Crawford was 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

— Atlanta beat Washington 3-1 behind Alex Wood, who held the NL East champs to a run and five hits while striking out eight in six innings. The Braves did their scoring on Christian Bethancourt's two-run single, with a third run scoring on shortstop Danny Espinosa's throwing error.

— Baltimore completed a three-game sweep of Toronto as Steve Pearce homered twice and collected four RBIs to lead the Orioles' 6-1 win over the Blue Jays. Bud Norris allowed two hits in 5 1/3 shutout innings for his 14th win.

— Carlos Carrasco was terrific in Cleveland's 2-0 shutout of Houston, striking out 11 while allowing just two hits in his first complete game since 2011. Yan Gomes accounted for the scoring with an RBI single and a run-scoring triple.

— Derek Jeter snapped his 0-for-28 skid with a single and scored the eventual winning run in the New York Yankees' 3-2 triumph over Tampa Bay. Brandon McCarthy improved to 7-4 since joining the Yankees, limiting the Rays to two runs and four hits in seven innings.

— Henderson Alvarez is 11-6 after yielding eight hits but just two runs in six innings of Miami's 4-3 win over the Mets in New York. Donovan Solano was 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored in the rubber match of the three-game set.

— Rookie Kyle Hendricks gave up a run and seven hits in seven innings to pitch the Cubs past Cincinnati 3-1 in Chicago. Hendricks is 7-2 with a 2.28 ERA in 12 starts.

— Former Twin Ben Revere hit a two-run double and Freddy Galvis slapped a two-run single in the fifth inning of Philadelphia's 5-2 win at San Diego. Cole Hamels recorded nine strikeouts while holding the Padres to a run and seven hits in seven frames.

Stanton's season is over

NEW YORK (AP) — Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton won't play again in the majors this season because of last week's beaning.

Stanton sustained facial fractures, dental damage, cuts that required stitches and two black eyes when was hit in the face by a fastball from Milwaukee's Mike Fiers last Thursday. He still leads the National League when 37 homers and had a major league-best 105 RBIs when he was injured.

West suspended

NEW YORK (AP) — Umpire Joe West has been suspended for one game without pay for grabbing the jersey of Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Major League Baseball executive Joe Torre said in a statement today that West "admitted that there was a better way to handle the situation."

Papelbon was suspended seven games and fined Monday for making a lewd gesture and then bumping West during a loss to Miami on Sunday.

Jays' Stroman to appeal suspension

BALTIMORE (AP) — Toronto pitcher Marcus Stroman is appealing his six-game suspension that Major League Baseball imposed for throwing at the head of a Baltimore hitter.

MLB penalized Stroman and also fined the 23-year-old rookie an undisclosed amount.

Stroman threw a pitch that sailed past the head of Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph in a game Monday night.