Joe Saunders flashed his All-Star form while earning his first win in over a month as the Los Angeles Angels rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 in the American League on Sunday, avoiding a three-game sweep. The AL West-leading Angels moved a step closer to their fourth division title in five years, thanks to a solid effort by Saunders and a questionable decision by Jermaine Dye to catch pinch-hitter Garrett Anderson's sacrifice fly in foul territory in the eighth. The Angels hung on after blowing a three-run lead the previous night. Saunders (15-7) earned his first win since July 30, holding AL Central-leading Chicago to two runs and four hits in 7 1-3 innings. Paul Konerko homered for the third straight game and Toby Hall also went deep for the White Sox. Horacio Ramirez (1-4) got the loss. Tigers 7, Twins 5: At Minneapolis, Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Dusty Ryan homered to help Detroit win. Ryan, a rookie catcher, hit a two-run homer in his first major league start. Chris Lambert (1-1) earned his first career win and the Tigers won consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 22-23. Justin Morneau had four RBIs, including a two-run triple, for Minnesota, which remains 2½ games behind AL Central-leading Chicago. Cabrera's leadoff homer in the sixth was his 1,000th career hit. Red Sox 7, Rangers 2: At Arlington, Texas David Ortiz hit his first home run in 20 games, Paul Byrd pitched 6 2-3 scoreless innings to win his fourth straight decision and Boston moved within 1½ games of the AL East lead. The Red Sox are the closest they've been to division-leading Tampa Bay since July 28. Six of their next nine games are against the skidding Rays, starting on Monday at Fenway Park. Ortiz had last homered Aug. 14 and the 19-game homerless streak matched the longest in his six seasons with Boston. His 415-foot (127-meter), two-run shot in the fifth off Brandon McCarthy (1-1) put Boston up 4-0. In other games it was: Blue Jays 1, Rays 0; Mariners 5, Yankees 2; Indians 3, Royals 1. Mets, Phils split DH In New York, Carlos Delgado hit two long homers and drove in four runs to back a big win by Johan Santana as the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 for a doubleheader split on Sunday. The National League East leaders salvaged the finale of the three-game series, giving them a two-game edge over second-place Philadelphia. In the opener, Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer (13-7) allowed only two soft singles in seven shutout innings and Greg Dobbs hit a three-run homer off Pedro Martinez (5-4), who took the loss in Game 1, the makeup of Saturday's rainout. In the second game, Santana (13-7) gave up two runs and five hits in 7 1-3 innings. Cole Hamels (12-9) hung an 0-2 breaking ball to Delgado leading off the third and he jumped on it, hitting a drive estimated at 400 feet off the bottom of the right-field scoreboard. Padres 10, Brewers 1: At Milwaukee, Chris Young came within four outs of a perfect game, retiring the first 23 Milwaukee batters in order before Gabe Kapler homered, and San Diego beat the Brewers. Chase Headley hit his ninth homer and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit his 21st for San Diego, which had 14 hits and broke the game open with five unearned runs off Manny Parra (10-7) in the third. Elsewhere it was: Reds 4, Cubs 3; Dodgers 5, Diamondbacks 3; Cardinals 3, Mariners 1; Astros 7, Rockies 5; Nationals 7, Braves 4, 14 innings; Giants 11, Pirates 6.
