Baseball-Highlights of Sunday's Major League Baseball games

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Highlights of Sunday's Major League Baseball games: - - - Tigers 3, Royals 2 Alex Avila drove in all three Detroit runs with a pair of home runs, his second breaking a 2-2 tie in the eighth and giving the Tigers the home victory over Kansas City. The win kept Detroit on track to clinch the American League Central, while Kansas City's hopes of securing a wild card playoff berth grew slimmer. - - - Orioles 3, Blue Jays 1 Danny Valencia smacked a two-run double to help Baltimore beat Toronto and stay in the hunt for an American League wild card spot. The Orioles (79-70) took two of three from the Blue Jays (68-81), winning their first road series in more than a month. - - - Pirates 3, Cubs 2 Justin Morneau's RBI single as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning lifted Pittsburgh to a home victory over the Cubs in the finale of a four-game home series. The Pirates took three of four in the series and won for the sixth time in their last seven games. They are tied atop the National League Central with the St. Louis Cardinals. - - - Cardinals 12, Mariners 2 St. Louis exploded for 19 hits, nearly as many as they had in the past week in the rout of Seattle. Yadier Molina homered and went 4-for-5 with three runs and an RBI for St. Louis (87-62). Every starting position player except third baseman David Freese drove in a run. - - - Brewers 6, Reds 5 Sean Halton's walk-off home run gave Milwaukee the victory at home over Cincinnati. Milwaukee tied the score in the eighth before closing it to dent Cincinnati's hopes of winning the National League Central. The Reds fell 3 ½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. - - - Athletics 5, Rangers 1 Oakland moved closer to clinching the American League West with the road win over Texas. The Athletics swept the three-game series and won their fifth in a row overall to pull 6 1/2 games clear of slumping Texas, which has lost six straight. The Rangers fell to 2-11 in September but remain in contention for a wild card playoff berth. - - - Padres 4, Braves 0 The Atlanta Braves have the best record in the National League, but no thanks to San Diego. The Padres have endured a mediocre season, but they have mastered Atlanta, as they showed again with the road victory. San Diego rookie Burch Smith pitched no-hit ball for five innings and wound up with his first big-league win as the Padres beat the Braves for the fifth time in six meetings this year. - - - Nationals 11, Phillies 2 Wilson Ramos had four run-scoring hits and a career-high five RBI and pitcher Jordan Zimmermann won his league-leading 18th game as Washington Nationals kept their slim playoff chances alive. - - - Mets 1, Marlins 0 Travis d'Arnaud's RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning snapped a scoreless tie and lifted the Mets to a home win over Miami. The Mets won three of the four games in the weekend series. The Marlins have lost nine of their last 12. - - - Twins 6, Rays 4 Tampa Bay squandered a three-run lead as Minnesota fought back to beat the Rays at home. Josmil Pinto's three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth put Minnesota in front as the Twins ended an 11-game losing streak against the Rays. - - - Angels 2, Astros 1 Los Angeles right-hander Jerome Williams limited Houston to a run and five hits in seven innings in the road win. Andrew Romine's fifth-inning sacrifice fly scored Erick Aybar with the winning run for the Angels. - - - Red Sox 9, Yankees 2 The Boston Red Sox completed a three-game home sweep of the fading New York Yankees. Clay Buchholz pitched six strong innings in his second start off the disabled list to improve to 11-0 and Boston reduced its magic number for clinching its first American League East title since 2007 to four. New York was officially eliminated from the division title race. The battered Yankees, who have 12 games left, remain three games behind both Tampa Bay and the Texas Rangers in the race for the two American League wild cards. - - - Indians 7, White Sox 1 Nick Swisher hit two of four Cleveland home runs as the Indians defeated the Chicago White Sox 7-1 on a rain-soaked afternoon. The switch-hitting Swisher hit one homer from each side of the plate. It was the 13th time Swisher homered from both sides of the plate in one game, tying him with Mark Teixeira for most all-time in MLB baseball history. The Indians swept their four-game set in Chicago and have won 12 straight overall against the White Sox. With both the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays losing on Sunday, the Indians sit just a half game out of a wild card spot in the American League. - - - Giants 4, Dodgers 3 Hunter Pence continued his haunting of Dodger Stadium and Brett Pill broke a late tie with a solo home run as the San Francisco Giants claimed a series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the score tied at three in the top of the eighth inning, Pill stroked a home run to left field off Dodgers reliever Paco Rodriguez, clinching a 3-1 series win for the Giants. - - - Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 2 Paul Goldschmidt had four hits, including a home run, and tied a career high with five RBIs as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 8-2 at home. With help from early offensive support, Randall Delgado earned his first victory in six weeks as Arizona improved to 75-73. (Editing by Gene Cherry/Amlan Chakraborty)