AL Roundup: A look at Monday's games

When they weren't beating up on the Texas Rangers, the Toronto Blue Jays had their own fans ducking for cover Monday.

Vernon Wells hit a three-run homer, Aaron Hill had a two-run shot and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Texas 7-2, handing the reeling Rangers their seventh loss in nine games.

Yunel Escobar added a solo drive for Toronto, which leads the majors with 211 homers.

"The only way you're going to have a chance against these guys is you've got to keep the ball in the ballpark," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "They got seven and six came via the long ball."

Even the seats were no haven on this day. In the seventh, a fan was struck on the right shoulder by a falling metal letter "B'' after a foul ball by Jose Bautista hit a sign honouring Jackie Robinson.

The man was treated with ice packs and returned to his seat.

"I was very surprised, because I didn't expect a 'B' to fall on me," said the injured fan, who gave only his first name as Ian and said he was a season-ticket holder from Toronto.

Tommy Hunter (12-3) struggled early as the AL West-leading Rangers lost their fourth straight. Texas has lost six in a row to Toronto since a win on opening day, getting outscored 48-24 in that span.

The Rangers left 10 men on base and went 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

"We need to start hitting better," infielder Jorge Cantu said. "We haven't been scoring that many runs. We need to find a way to get on base."

Washington said he's seen "a little bit of everything" during the Rangers' poor run.

"One day it might be the pitching, one day it might be the defence, one day it might be us not putting enough runs on the board," Washington said. "We've just got to work our way through this, and we will."

Elsewhere in the AL it was: Baltimore 4, New York Yankees 3; Chicago White Sox 5, Detroit 4; Minnesota 5, Kansas City 4; Oakland 6, Seattle 2; Boston 12; Tampa Bay 5, and Cleveland 3, Los Angeles Angels 2.

Ricky Romero (12-8) allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings. Shawn Camp pitched the eighth and Brian Tallet gave up Michael Young's RBI double in the ninth.

Romero is 2-1 with an 0.92 earned-run average in four career starts against Texas.

"It's been fun to play behind Ricky," Wells said. "He challenges everybody, he throws strikes, he's been able to have command of some nasty stuff. His ball moves all over the place and he's been able to harness it. He's learning how to pitch in the toughest division in baseball and it's been fun to watch him grow."

Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the second when John Buck struck out on a wild pitch with two outs, allowing him to reach base and letting Wells score from third.

Rangers catcher Taylor Teagarden tried to throw home on the play, but Washington said Teagarden should have gone to first.

"The right play is at first base," Washington said. "You've got Buck up there swinging and missing, the ball's not too far away, (Buck) can't run, it's the third out. You take the easy one."

The Blue Jays broke it open with a five-run third. Dewayne Wise singled, Bautista walked and Wells lined his 25th home run. Lyle Overbay then doubled and Hill connected for a drive to left, his 23rd homer and second in as many days.

Hunter blamed the poor inning on "a couple of cutters than spun" and said he had trouble with the pitch all day.

"It's an effective pitch when it's good, very effective," Hunter said. "They just caught it when it was not good and caught it pretty square."

Vladimir Guerrero doubled and scored on David Murphy's single in the fourth, but Escobar restored the six-run cushion with a solo drive in the seventh.

Toronto has gone deep in eight straight games, hitting 16 homers in that stretch.

Hunter, who had won his previous three starts, allowed seven runs and seven hits in seven innings.

White Sox 5, Tigers 4, 10 innings

At Detroit, A.J. Pierzynski hit a go-ahead single in the 10th inning and finished with three RBIs, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Tigers for their seventh straight win.

---

At Minneapolis, Jason Kubel hit a go-ahead homer and Jim Thome launched his 585th career home run moments later, powering the Twins past the Kansas City Royals.

---

At New York, Brian Matusz won his fourth straight start and Brian Roberts hit a go-ahead single in the seventh inning off struggling A.J. Burnett, leading the Baltimore Orioles over the Yankees.

---

At Oakland, Calif., Coco Crisp and Matt Carson each hit solo home runs to back Brett Anderson, and the Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners.

At Boston, Ryan Kalish hit a grand slam, David Ortiz had a two-run shot and Jon Lester pitched six solid innings to lead the Red Sox over Tampa Bay, preventing the Rays from climbing closer in the AL East race.

---

Indians 3, Angels 2

At Anaheim, Calif., Shin-Soo Choo drove home Michael Brantley with a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning, and the Cleveland Indians rallied to beat the Los Angeles Angels.