The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays remain inseparable at the top of Major League Baseball's American League East after both recorded home wins on Monday.

Back-to-back home runs from Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira, followed by a three-run blast from Marcus Thames, proved key as the Yankees proved too good for the Oakland Athletics in an 11-5 victory. A three-run homer from Carlos Pena helped the Rays to a 6-2 success against the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field as both they and the Yankees moved to 81-50 for the season.

AL West leaders the Texas Rangers snuck to a 1-0 win over the Kansas City Royals, with CJ Wilson striking out six, and the Los Angeles Angels were 5-3 victors at the Seattle Mariners.

Brent Lillibridge's 11th-inning homer earned the Chicago White Sox a 10-6 victory over the Cleveland Indians which keeps them in behind the Minnesota Twins in the Central Division.

In the National League, the Atlanta Braves won a third straight match as Jason Heyward homered and drove in four runs in a 9-3 win over the New York Mets which keeps them out in front in the East, where the Washington Nationals also won a rain-delayed match 9-3 on the road at the Florida Marlins with Ryan Zimmerman contributing a three-run homer.

The Cincinnati Reds remain the ones to catch in the NL Central with a 5-4 triumph over the Milwaukee Brewers thanks to Jay Bruce's walk-off hit in the 10th and benefitted from their nearest rivals, the St Louis Cardinals, losing 3-0 at the Houston Astros. The Chicago Cubs hammered the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-2 in a battle of the NL Central's lowest-ranked sides.

West Division bottom side the Arizona Diamondbacks turned the tables on the leaders the San Diego Padres with a 7-2 win, making it five defeats in a row for the Californians.

Mark Reynolds hit a pair of two-run homers for the Diamondbacks while the Los Angeles Dodgers, one rung above them on the NL West ladder, beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0.

The race for second place behind the Padres in AL West became closer as the Colorado Rockies won 2-1 at the San Francisco Giants as Carlos Gonzalez turned the match around in the ninth inning.