TORONTO — Alex Rios hit a three-run homer against his former team and Francisco Liriano earned his first victory with the Chicago White Sox 7-2 over the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday. Tyler Flowers, Dayan Viciedo, Alexei Ramirez and Dewayne Wise all hit solo home runs as the White Sox matched a season high by going deep five times. Chicago has hit 28 home runs in its past 13 games. The power surge helped Chicago win its first series in Toronto since 2006. Viciedo and Flowers hit consecutive long balls in the fifth inning, the eighth time this season the White Sox have gone back-to-back. Liriano (4-10) allowed two runs and three hits in 6 1-3 innings to win for the first time since July 6 at Texas, while pitching for Minnesota. The left-hander, who walked one and struck out six, was traded to Chicago on July 28. Athletics 3, Royals 0: Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes homered, and Dan Straily earned his first major league victory in Oakland's win over Kansas City. Crisp, who played for the Royals in 2009, was 2 for 27 this season against Kansas City before the home run. His drive hit high off a green wall beyond the fence and caromed back onto the field. It was first ruled a double, but after A's manager Bob Melvin disputed the call, umpires viewed replays and changed it to a home run. Straily (1-0) held the Royals to three singles over 6 1-3 innings in his third major league start. Straily, who walked two and struck out two, pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning. Luke Hochevar (7-11) gave up three runs and four hits in seven-plus innings. Hochevar is 0-8 with a 6.52 ERA in nine career starts against Oakland. Grant Balfour worked a perfect ninth to earn his ninth save in 11 opportunities. Rays 7, Angels 0: David Price pitched three-hit ball over seven innings for his AL-leading 16th victory, and Tampa Bay got home runs from Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and Ben Zobrist in a win over the Los Angeles Angels. Burke Badenhop and Wade Davis each worked one inning in the Rays' third straight shutout against the Angels. Los Angeles has gone 32 consecutive innings without scoring against a staff that leads the AL in ERA, opponents' batting average and strikeouts. Price (16-4) struck out eight, walked two and lowered his ERA to 2.39, third in the AL. The left-hander allowed only two runners to third base. Price is 7-0 with a 2.21 ERA over his last nine road starts, and 8-0 with a 1.72 ERA in his last 11 starts overall. Dan Haren (8-10) threw 61 pitches in 3 1-3 innings and gave up five runs and seven hits, including Zobrist's 13th homer and Upton's 14th. He has allowed at least one home run in a career-worst 10 consecutive starts, and 15 during the streak. The Rays, who lost 1-0 at Seattle on Wednesday in Felix Hernandez's perfect game, had a streak of 34 consecutive batters retired before Zobrist homered in the second. In other games it was: Texas 10, NY Yankees 6; and Boston 6, Baltimore 3. — Agencies
