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MLB

Ken Griffey Jr drove in a pair of runs in as the Chicago White Sox romped to a 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Griffey collected two RBI singles and narrowly missed a home run in the fourth inning - driving a deep fly ball to the warning track in right-centre field.

In Minneapolis, Joe Mauer's two-run homer in the seventh inning snapped a tie and Nick Blackburn won for the first time in five starts as the Minnesota Twins recorded a 4-1 triumph over the Cleveland Indians.

Blackburn tossed seven solid innings as the Twins (61-48) kept pace with the American League Central Division leading White Sox (61-47), who sit half a game ahead.

At Fenway Park, Jason Bay tripled with two outs and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th on Jed Lowrie's infield single as the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 2-1 in their first game in eight years without Manny Ramirez.

In his first game since being acquired from Pittsburgh, Bay walked twice and scored in his first at-bat and made a sliding grab in left field.

The Tampa Bay Rays remained three games ahead of the Red Sox at the top of the East after Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria hit solo home runs and the Rays' bullpen pitched just over four scoreless innings en route to a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Grant Balfour (3-1), the first of four Rays' relievers, struck out three over one and a third hitless innings for the victory, while Troy Percival pitched a scoreless ninth for his 24th save in 26 chances as Tampa Bay recorded a third straight win.

In the Bronx, Torii Hunter's single in the ninth inning lifted the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to a 1-0 triumph over the New York Yankees.

The Angels finally came alive in the ninth against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera (4-4), who has struggled in non-save situations this year.

Ervin Santana (12-5) was brilliant for the Angels, tossing eight innings and allowing five hits while striking out eight.

Finally, David Murphy delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers rallied past the Toronto Blue Jays 9-8, while the Baltimore Orioles eased to a 10-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.