Soriano Gets Cubs Closer; Angels Soar over Tigers

American League Detroit 3 LA Angels 10 - Garrett Anderson blasted a three-run homer and the Angels won their 2nd straight over Detroit and third straight overall, maintaining their 4-game lead on 2nd place Seattle in the AL West. The Halos look for the sweep tonight on ESPN. Toronto 0 Chi White Sox 2 - Mark Buehrle (right) outdueled Toronto's Roy Halladay, hurling 8 innings of shutout ball, fanning 6. Bobby Jenks worked a perfect 9th for save #30. Boston 12 Tampa Bay 6, 12 innings - Manny Ramirez has come to life, with 13 RBI over his last 7 games, including a 2-run double in the 6-run 12th as the Red Sox stretched their lead over the struggling Yankees to 9 games. The Red Sox have won three straight while New York has lost 3 in a row. Tampa Bay has lost 8 straight. Other AL Scores Oakland 3 Seattle 4 Minnesota 3 Cleveland 2 NY Yankees 5 Baltimore 7 - Yankees fall 9 behind Boston Texas 5 Kansas City 6 National League Chi Cubs 8 Cincinnati 1 - Alfonso Soriano (right) singled and homered twice in five at-bats, driving in 5 runs and scoring 3, as the Cubs relentless 2nd half drive continued in earnest. Coupled with the Brewers dropping a pair at St. Louis, the Cubbies are now just 1 1/2 behind the crumbling Milwaukee squad. Die-hard Cardinals' fans will note that St. Louis is just 7 games behind, albeit with a losing record (48-53). Since July 1, the Brewers haven't exactly been playing like a first-place team, going 9-15. Over the same stretch, the Cubs are 15-8, and are tied in the loss column with the Brewers at 48. Milwaukee 6 St. Louis 7 Milwaukee 2 St. Louis 5 - The Cardinals scored three times in the bottom of the ninth to take the opener and began game two with another 3 run inning in the first, helping Anthony Reyes (1-10) to his first win of the season. Albert Pujols went 2-4 in each game, raising his batting average to .317 and his RBI total to 68. The Cards have taken 2 of 3 from the Brewers in this series and will look to draw even closer in the finale on Sunday. Pittsburgh 5 Philadelphia 10 - While the Mets were splitting a double-header with last place Washington, the Phillies were busy keeping Pittsburgh in the NL Central basement. Jimmy Rollins, who has moved from leadoff into the 3-hole because of the injury to Chase Utley, went 3-5, drove in three, stole a base and scored a run. Rollins has 64 RBI, not bad for a guy batting mostly leadoff. The Phillies are 3 1/2 behind New York. Philly has a tough stretch coming up, with four games at Chicago followed by 3 at Milwaukee beginning Monday. Near the end of August, Philly hosts LA and San Diego for three games each, followed by a 4-game home series with the Mets. Atlanta 3 Arizona 4, 10 innings - The Diamondbacks won their 8th straight and are just .001 behind the Dodgers in the NL West. LA Dodgers 2 Colorado 6 - Matt Holliday cracked his 19th homer and drove in two, giving him 81 RBI overall, and Jeff Francis allowed just 2 earned runs over 7 2/3rds as the Rockies clawed to within 4 1/2 of first place in the West. Other NL Scores Washington 1 NY Mets 3 Washington 6 NY Mets 5 San Diego 1 Houston 3 Florida 3 San Francisco 4