Loaiza Picks Up No. 11 in Gem Against Twins

Esteban Loaiza must be having a hard time avoiding thoughts of the All-Star game. After all, it’s in his home park, and he’s tied for the major league lead in victories.

Loaiza (11-2) gave up an unearned run and six hits in eight innings to match a career high in victories, and the Chicago White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 2-1, Tuesday night at Minneapolis.

Loaiza lowered his earned-run average to 1.99, best in the majors, and the White Sox pulled to within 4 1/2 games of Minnesota and Kansas City, who are tied for first place in the AL Central.

Texas 7, Oakland 6 -- Carl Everett hit a three-run home run at Arlington, Texas, and Mario Ramos (1-1) earned his first major league victory to help the Rangers end an eight-game skid.

The Athletics rallied for four runs in the ninth before Ugueth Urbina got his 19th save.

Boston 10, Detroit 1 -- Nomar Garciaparra had five hits before being removed for a pinch-runner in the seventh inning, and Derek Lowe (8-3) pitched eight strong innings at Boston for his fifth consecutive victory.

New York 10, Tampa Bay 9 -- Juan Rivera hit a three-run homer and Todd Zeile had a run-scoring double at St. Petersburg, Fla., where the Yankees scored four times in the ninth inning.

The Devil Rays wasted Marlon Anderson’s first career grand slam.

Kansas City 3, Cleveland 1 -- Chris George (9-4) pitched out of trouble for most of his 5 2/3 innings at Cleveland and the second-place Royals improved to 22-6 in the AL Central and to 6-1 against the Indians this season.

Baltimore 6, Toronto 4 -- Jeff Conine and Tony Batista homered at Toronto, and the Orioles ended an eight-game losing streak to the Blue Jays.

Carlos Delgado hit his AL-leading 23rd homer for the Blue Jays and has 81 runs batted in -- the most ever by a Toronto player before the All-Star break.