Wednesday’s games

American League

Royals 4, Tigers 3: At Kansas City, Mo., pinch-hitter Denny Hocking’s two-out, two-run single in the ninth gave Kansas City its first four-game sweep in six years as the Royals handed Detroit its seventh consecutive loss.

Twins 10, Athletics 4: At Oakland, Calif., Michael Cuddyer homered, hit three doubles and drove in four runs and Minnesota beat Oakland to snap a three-game losing streak. The A’s dropped 2 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the West.

Yankees 2, Orioles 1: At New York, Randy Johnson limited Baltimore to three hits over eight innings and Matt Lawton hit a two-run homer to carry the Yankees to a win. New York, which won for the ninth time in 10 games, moved into the East lead, one-half game ahead of Boston.

Devil Rays 7, Red Sox 4: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Tampa Bay rallied for five runs in the eighth to knock Boston out of first place in the East for the first time in 64 days.

Indians 8, White Sox 0: At Chicago, Scott Elarton pitched five-hit ball into the eighth and Travis Hafner homered twice as Cleveland closed within 2 1/2 games of Chicago in the Central. Cleveland leads the wild-card race by one game over Boston.

Angels 6, Rangers 5: At Anaheim, Calif., pinch-hitter Jose Molina drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a single in a four-run seventh and Los Angeles beat Texas.

National League

Cardinals 5, Reds 1: At Cincinnati, Jason Marquis (13-14) pitched seven solid innings, and homers by David Eckstein and So Taguchi powered St. Louis past Cincinnati.

Giants 5, Nationals 1: At Washington, Barry Bonds homered for the fourth consecutive game, leading San Francisco past Washington for its fifth consecutive win.

Astros 12, Pirates 8: At Pittsburgh, Lance Berkman hit his 20th homer and drove in five runs as Houston built an 8-0 lead and held off Pittsburgh. It was the seventh win in eight games for Houston.

Phillies 10, Braves 6 (10): At Atlanta, Ryan Howard hit a grand slam in the 10th and Philadelphia pulled within five games of Atlanta in the East. The Phillies remained two games behind Houston in the wild-card race.

Mets 5, Marlins 4: At New York, Miguel Cairo’s RBI single in the ninth jolted the playoff hopes of Florida, which fell four games behind Houston in the wild-card race.

Padres 5, Rockies 2: At Denver, Jake Peavy (13-7) pitched into the eighth as San Diego topped Colorado to maintain its five-game lead in the West.

Brewers 7, Cubs 6: At Milwaukee, pinch-hitter Jeff Cirillo singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, leading Milwaukee over Chicago.

Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 2: At Phoenix, Troy Glaus hit a two-run homer as Arizona beat Los Angeles.