AL Roundup: A look at Friday's games

A bit of drama between pitcher Matt Garza and manager Joe Maddon was about the only sore spot for the Tampa Bay Rays in yet another victory over Baltimore.

Garza (14-7) gave up one run and five hits in 5 2-3 innings in Tampa Bay's 4-1 victory Friday night. It was an extension of an outstanding August in which he had a 1.27 earned-run average over five starts.

But it was only the second time in his last nine appearances that he failed to complete six innings, and he wasn't too pleased about being pulled after throwing 98 pitches.

Garza told Maddon as much while coming off the mound, and the manager wasn't going to let it pass.

"I didn't appreciate it, so we reviewed it when I got to the dugout," Maddon said. "I love the fact that our pitchers don't want to come out of the game, and he's kind of trained himself to pitch farther. However, it was very hot tonight and humid, and I want to try and keep people fresh for the rest of the year."

Afterward, Garza acknowledged that Maddon probably made the right move.

"He was just explaining the situation and just was kind of letting me know what was going on," Garza said. "You want to stay in and go deeper. But I didn't have the stuff to keep going, and it worked out for the best."

Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez was set to make his anticipated return to Fenway Park, but the Chicago White Sox's game at Boston was rained out.

Elsewhere in the AL it was: New York 7 Toronto 3; Minnesota 4 Texas 3; Seattle 1 Cleveland 0; Detroit 9 Kansas City 5 (11 innings); and Oakland 8 Los Angeles 0.

At Baltimore, Garza was lifted after issuing two walks, and Chad Qualls came in and retired Matt Wieters to end the inning.

Carl Crawford had three hits and an RBI for the Rays, who stayed 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East and extended their wild-card lead over Boston to seven games. Tampa Bay has won five of six and nine of 12.

In his last outing against the Orioles, Garza yielded four homers and seven runs in 6 1-3 innings. The right-hander's effort in the rematch provided a measure of redemption and improved his lifetime record against Baltimore to 9-1, including 3-0 this season.

Instead of throwing hard, Garza hardly threw with any velocity. The strategy worked.

"He's got a power arm but he finessed tonight. He tripled up on his change-up and threw a lot of breaking balls," Baltimore designated hitter Luke Scott said. "It's usually not typical of him."

Said Garza: "I kind of deviated from the game plan and followed (catcher Jason Jaso's) lead. He wanted to go soft a lot and that's what we did."

Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his major-league leading 41st save.

Felix Pie drove in the lone run for the Orioles, mired in their first three-game losing streak under manager Buck Showalter. Baltimore is 17-13 since Showalter made his debut on Aug. 3.

"I kept hoping we would put something together," Showalter said. "The key to the game is we scored one run."

Kevin Millwood (3-15) allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings. He was vying for a second straight win after going nine straight starts without one.

"I don't think it was terrible," Millwood said of his outing, "but I didn't make enough good pitches to give us a really good chance to win."

Millwood allowed at least one first-inning run in 13 of his previous 17 starts, and it appeared the trend would continue when Crawford hit a two-out triple and Evan Longoria walked. But Carlos Pena popped out to end the threat.

In the third, however, Crawford hit an RBI single and scored on Longoria's AL-high 43rd double.

Reid Brignac singled in a run and Ben Zobrist hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 in the fourth. Baltimore got a run back in the bottom half when Ty Wigginton doubled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a fly ball to centre by Pie.

Yankees 7 Blue Jays 3

At New York, Curtis Granderson drove in three runs with a pair of doubles, Brett Gardner hit a run-scoring triple and scored three times, and the Yankees beat Toronto to match a season high with their seventh straight victory.

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At Minneapolis, Denard Span delivered the go-ahead single in the seventh inning and emergency starter Matt Fox pitched 5 2-3 innings in his major league debut for Minnesota.

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At Seattle, Luke French held Cleveland hitless through 6 1-3 innings and combined with the Mariners' bullpen to throw a three-hitter.

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At Kansas City, Mo., Will Rhymes hit a two-run triple in a four-run 11th inning to lift Detroit to a victory over the Royals.

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At Oakland, Calif., Gio Gonzalez pitched six innings to win a season-best third straight start, Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run homer and Oakland snapped a four-game skid.