Indians Lose Again, 8-1

Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter hit consecutive homers, and Terry Mulholland pitched six strong innings Saturday for the Minnesota Twins in an 8-1 victory over the slumping Cleveland Indians at Minneapolis.

Cleveland, which had pulled within a game of the first-place Twins last Saturday, dropped six back in the AL Central standings following its sixth consecutive loss. The Indians have been outscored, 43-12, during the losing streak. Minnesota has won five of six during that span.

Mulholland (4-6) gave up one run and seven hits, striking out four and walking two. Cristian Guzman drove in three runs and Corey Koskie led off the eighth with his 20th homer.

Mulholland yielded only one earned run in eight innings in Cleveland last Sunday, when Minnesota ended the Indians’ six-game winning streak and started their current slide.

Chad Durbin (5-5), who had not allowed a run in 14 innings coming in, gave up five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. He lost for the first time since returning from the minors on July 24.

Texas 5, Kansas City 3 -- Mark Teixeira hit his 30th homer, Manny Alexander added a two-run double and the Rangers won their eighth game in a row with the victory at Kansas City, Mo.

The Rangers matched their longest winning streak of the season and remained tied with Boston for the AL wild-card lead. They trail first-place Oakland by a half-game in the AL West.

Texas starter Mickey Callaway gave up only two runs and five hits but was lifted after 4 2/3 innings, one out from qualifying for his first win since April 1, 2003, with the Angels.

Making his second start since missing 123 days with an elbow injury, the right-hander was trying to end a personal eight-game losing streak. He gave up Ruben Gotay’s sacrifice fly and Joe Randa’s RBI single in the fifth before giving way to Franklin Francisco (4-1).

Boston 10, Chicago 7 -- Manny Ramirez homered and drove in five runs, Jason Varitek hit two solo homers and the Red Sox earned their fifth straight victory with the win in Chicago.

The streaking Red Sox moved a season-high 17 games over .500. The slumping White Sox (60-60) fell to .500 for the first time since April 11.

Toronto 10, Baltimore 4 -- Carlos Delgado homered and drove in three runs to key a 15-hit outburst at Baltimore, and the Blue Jays handed the Orioles their fifth straight loss.

Rookie Dave Bush (2-3) gave up three runs in six innings for the Blue Jays, who have their first winning streak -- two games -- under interim Manager John Gibbons, now 4-8 since taking over for Carlos Tosca.

Oakland 5, Tampa Bay 0 -- Barry Zito gave up four hits over eight shutout innings at St. Petersburg, Fla., helping the AL West-leading A’s to their fifth consecutive victory.

Bobby Crosby, Marco Scutaro and Mark Kotsay homered for Oakland, which has hit 14 homers -- including seven solo shots the last two days -- in the last four games. Zito struck out six and walked one to improve to 5-2 in eight starts since the All-Star break.

Detroit 11, Seattle 10 -- Craig Monroe singled home the winning run with one out in the 11th inning to lead the Tigers to a wild victory over the Mariners at Seattle.

The teams combined for a Comerica Park-record 36 hits, including 21 by Seattle.