Boston Red Sox self-capitulate

The Boston Red Sox threw away a 4-0 advantage to lose 8-6 to Kansas City and fall into a tie atop the American League East.

This was despite David Ortiz (pictured right) cracked his 300th career home run.

Ortiz hit a two-run shot over the Green Monster in the first inning and the Red Sox looked to be cruising after Dustin Pedroia's blast made it 4-0 in the fifth inning.

But the Royals rallied and David DeJesus hit a two-run homer in the sixth that made it 7-5.

The Royals added a run in the eighth and closer Joakim Soria entered in the bottom of the frame to get his team out of a bases-loaded jam and preserve the win.

The New York Yankees took full advantage of the Red Sox defeat, beating the Minnesota Twins 6-4 thanks to a strong effort from their bullpen.

Alfredo Aceves, a star in relief for the Yankees this season, struggled in a spot start, but five Yankees relievers combined to shut out the Twins for 5 2/3 innings and hang on for the win.

David Robertson, Jonathan Albaladejo, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera were the pitchers who got it done as the Yankees completed a three-game sweep.

There was more good news for the Yankees as first baseman Mark Teixeira ended his power outage with a fifth-inning home run, his first in almost a month.

With trade rumours continuing to swirl, Roy Halladay suffered a hard-luck loss as the Toronto Blue Jays went down 3-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Halladay gave up three runs while striking out eight in seven innings, but David Price was better for Tampa Bay, yielding only one run while fanning seven in six innings.

This was Toronto's 11th loss in 14 games.

Franklin Gutierrez smacked a three-run homer in the eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners came from behind to beat the Texas Rangers 3-1.

Seattle trailed to an Ian Kinsler run - scored on a wild pitch from Felix Hernandez - but after Ichiro Suzuki and Ken Griffey Jr got on base, Gutierrez deposited a CJ Wilson pitch in the centre field bleachers to win it for Seattle.

Kelly Shoppach smacked his first career grand slam and collected five RBI to help the Cleveland Indians to a 10-8 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Indians starter David Huff surrendered eight runs in 4 1/3 innings, but Cleveland never trailed having punished Chicago's Clayton Richard for six first-inning runs.