Yankees Beat Rays to Regain AL East Lead

The Yankees (82-63) moved half a game clear of Baltimore (81-63) but the Orioles had the chance to rejoin them on top with their game in Oakland still to play.

The Yankees opened up a 4-0 lead through five innings after Curtis Granderson hit his 39th homer of the season and Eduardo Nunez his first.

Evan Longoria homered as the Rays scored three runs over the sixth and seventh but third baseman Alex Rodriguez drove in Robinson Cano in the eighth to give the Pinstripes an insurance run.

The Rays beat the Yankees on Friday night but have lost four of their last five games against divisional rivals to slip three and a half games behind in the wildcard race.

The AL Central division was also looming as a tight battle with both the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers winning on Saturday.

The White Sox improved to 78-66 with a 5-3 win over Minnesota, good enough to preserve a one game lead over Detroit (77-67), who beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3.

Chicago led 4-0 into the seventh and pitcher Francisco Liriano was eyeing a no-hitter until Twin Trevor Plouffe powered a two run homer late in the inning.

The Atlanta Braves beat their National League East rivals, the Washington Nationals 5-4, when Washington relief pitcher Ryan Mattheus hit Brave Andrelton Simmons with the bases loaded in the eighth.

The Nationals still led the division by 6.5 games while the Braves maintained their stranglehold on the first wildcard.

The Pittsburgh Pirates kept alive their postseason dreams when they held off a Chicago Cubs rally to triumph 7-6 and move 2.5 games away from the second wildcard spot.

(Reporting by Ben Everill in Los Angeles; Editing by Julian Linden)

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/09/15/sports/baseball/15reuters-baseball.html?partner=rss&emc=rss