NEW YORK -A J Burnett won his fourth straight decision and Nick Swisher had a big day with his bat and glove, leading the New York Yankees over the Baltimore Orioles 6-4 on Wednesday for their sixth consecutive victory.
Jorge Posada homered and drove in two runs, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single and Mariano Rivera earned his fifth save in six days. The AL East leaders scored four times in the first inning and sent rookie Jason Berken (1-8) to his eighth loss in a row.
Swisher capped the early outburst with a two-run single and made three fine plays in right field, making up for a third-inning error.
Adam Jones homered and had four hits. He and Nick Markakis hit consecutive solo shots with two outs in the ninth off Brian Bruney.
Burnett (9-4) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, improving to 9-1 in 11 career starts against Baltimore.
Athletics 16, Twins 1
OAKLAND, Calif. – Rajai Davis drove in four runs, Scott Hairston hit a three-run homer and the Athletics jumped all over Minnesota starter Glen Perkins in their highest scoring game in nearly two years.
Matt Holliday went 3 for 3 with three runs scored and Orlando Cabrera reached base safely three times in the first two innings, scoring twice and knocking in two runs as the As took a 12-1 lead after two innings. Oakland finished with 18 hits.
The outburst helped Trevor Cahill (6-8) win for the first time in exactly one month. He allowed a solo homer to Justin Morneau in the first inning and nothing else in the rest of his seven-inning outing.
Perkins (5-6) once again was done in by first-inning woes, allowing five runs in the opening frame.
Mariners 2, Tigers 1
DETROIT – Russell Branyan hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning to give Felix Hernandez and Seattle the victory.
Branyan drove a 1-0 pitch from Bobby Seay (1-2) for his 24th homer and the last of Seattles two hits in the game.
Hernandez (11-3) struck out eight in seven innings, allowing one run and six hits. David Aardsma pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.
Armando Galarraga allowed one run and one hit in 7 1-3 innings. He walked Jack Hannahan leading off the eighth and got one out before being replaced by Seay. After Ichiro Suzuki grounded out, Branyan homered.
Clete Thomas gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the third.
Blue Jays 10, Indians 6
TORONTO – Marco Scutaro hit two of Torontos season-high five home runs and matched his career-high with four RBIs.
Scutaro had a solo homer in the fifth and a three-run shot in the sixth, the first multihomer game of his career.
Aaron Hill, Alex Rios and Vernon Wells all hit solo home runs for Toronto.
All four solo shots came off Carl Pavano (8-8), who had won consecutive starts coming in but allowed seven runs and seven hits, six for extra bases, in 4 2-3 innings.
The Indians lost for the ninth time in 13 games.
Toronto rookie Ricky Romero (8-4) got the win, allowing four runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings.
