AL roundup: Youkilis, Red Sox beat Jays

TORONTO (AP) — Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run homer, Clay Buchholz pitched 5 2-3 innings to earn his first major league win in more than a year and the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Friday night.

David Ortiz added a two-run double as Boston opened the second half by winning its fourth straight.

Toronto, which has lost 13 of 16, dropped a season-high three games below .500.

Called up from Triple-A Pawtucket, where he was 7-2 with a 2.36 ERA, Buchholz (1-0) made his first major league start since Aug. 20. The win was his first since May 2, 2008.

Mariners 6, Indians 2

CLEVELAND — Felix Hernandez allowed two runs in eight innings and Franklin Gutierrez homered against his former team in the Seattle Mariners’ 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Friday night.

Hernandez (10-3) allowed five hits, walking one and striking out eight in his first start since pitching a scoreless inning in Tuesday’s All-Star game. He lowered his ERA to 2.51, ranking him second in the American League behind Kansas City’s Zack Greinke (2.12).

Yankees 5, Tigers 3

NEW YORK — Mark Teixeira bailed out a shaky A.J. Burnett with a go-ahead, three-run homer, and the New York Yankees opened the second half with a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

Joel Zumaya (3-3) relieved to start the seventh, gave up a leadoff single to Derek Jeter and a long double to Johnny Damon.

Rather than issue an intentional walk that would load the bases for Alex Rodriguez, Zumaya pitched to Teixeira, who hit his 22nd homer for a 5-3 lead.

White Sox 12, Orioles 8

CHICAGO — Jim Thome hit a grand slam and a three-run homer for a career-high seven RBIs Friday night, carrying the Chicago White Sox to a 12-8 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

With 14 RBIs in the last three games, Thome increased his career total to 1,545 and passed Harry Heilmann and Willie Stargell into 41st place on baseball’s all-time list. His previous single-game best was six; he did that four times, most recently at Baltimore on July 6, 2006 — which also was when he had hit his last grand slam.

Rays 8, Royals 7

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Evan Longoria and Pat Burrell hit two-run homers in consecutive innings to help the Tampa Bay Rays rally for an 8-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Longoria, who missed Tuesday night’s All-Star Game with an infected finger, connected against Juan Cruz (3-3) in the eighth to give the Rays the lead. Burrell’s fifth homer off Ron Mahay in the seventh cut Kansas City’s lead to 7-6.

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