Sabathia pitches Yankees to win

CC Sabathia came out on top of a duel with Justin Verlander as the Yankees beat Detroit 2-1 to pull within two games of Boston.

Sabathia (9-6) tossed seven shutout innings for the win, while Verlander (10-5) held the Yankees scoreless for six frames until Alex Rodriguez homered and Melky Cabrera added an RBI single.

A Marcus Thames solo shot in the eighth was not enough to get a rally going for the Tigers.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, fell 6-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays as Marc Rzepczynski (1-1) got his first career victory.

Rzepczynski threw six innings of one-run ball, while Adam Lind had a homer which accounted for two of the six runs Brad Penney (6-4) gave up in five innings.

The one bright spot for Boston was a homer for shortstop Jed Lowrie on his return from injury.

The gap also narrowed at the top of the NL Central as the Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 to move to within a game of the Tigers.

All Chicago's runs came in the fifth inning, including a Jermaine Dye two-run homer, while Mark Buehrle allowed just one run in 7 1/3 innings.

Zack Greinke was close to his best but the Kansas City Royals could not take advantage in a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Greinke allowed one run across seven innings and lowered his ERA to 2.08, but the Royals' bullpen blew a 2-1 lead, John Bale and John Bale combining to allow three runs in the eighth.

Willy Aybar went 4-for-4 for the Rays - and his brother Erick had a career-high four RBI to lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to an 11-6 win over AL West rivals the Oakland Athletics.

Franklin Gutierrez homered against his former side for the second day in a row as the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians 3-1.

Jarrod Washburn (7-6) surrendered one run across 6 2/3 innings for the win, while David Aardsma earned his 21st save of the season.

Scott Baker (8-7) produced an excellent start, something he has done all too rarely this season, to pitch the Minnesota Twins to a 4-1 win over the Texas Rangers.

Baker's eight innings of one-run ball lowered his ERA to 5.10, while Michael Cuddyer backed him up with a solo homer and an RBI double.

Texas got their one run from a Nelson Cruz dinger, his 23rd of the season.