Young’s Homer Lifts Rangers, 5-3

Eric Young picked the perfect time to hit his first home run for the Texas Rangers, who are making the most of their last chance against Oakland.

Young’s three-run shot was a tiebreaker, pushing Texas to a 5-3 win over the Athletics on Wednesday night at Arlington, Texas, and moving the Rangers three games back of the American League West leaders.

“E-Y’s timing couldn’t have been better,” Manager Buck Showalter said. “He told us he’d been saving one.”

Young connected against Barry Zito (11-11) with two out in the fourth for a 5-2 lead.

That was in his 305th at-bat -- the most this season by any player in the majors without a homer. It was his 95th game, his fifth consecutive start at second base in place of injured Alfonso Soriano.

Kenny Rogers matched a career high with his 17th win for the Rangers, who will try to complete a three-game sweep today in their last meeting against the Athletics.

The Rangers have 10 games left after that, six against Seattle and four at home against the Angels.

Before the game, the Rangers said that relievers Frank Francisco, Doug Brocail and Carlos Almanzar dropped their appeals of suspensions that stemmed from the altercation with fans near the bullpen in Oakland last week.

Francisco’s suspension was reduced to 15 games, which still will carry through the final game of the regular season. Almanzar began serving his four-game suspension Wednesday night, and will be eligible to return Sunday, the day Brocail will begin his six-game suspension.

Boston 7, Baltimore 6 -- Orlando Cabrera homered in the bottom of the 12th inning to lead the Red Sox to their second consecutive victory in their last at-bat.

The victory moved Boston 3 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the East. The teams play a three-game series at Fenway Park over the weekend.

David Ortiz became the 10th player in team history to hit 40 homers for Boston. He joined Manny Ramirez, who leads the AL with 41 homers, as the first Red Sox teammates to each hit 40 since Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski and Rico Petrocelli each hit 40 in 1969.

Toronto 5, New York 4 -- Vernon Wells hit a go-ahead, two-run triple against Orlando Hernandez in the seventh inning at New York to help send the right-hander to his first loss this season.

New York built a 3-0 lead when Bernie Williams hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Ruben Sierra hit a solo shot in the second. Williams’ drive gave the Yankees six hitters with 20 homers or more for only the second time in their history, the first since 1961.

Reaching 20 homers for the 1961 Yankees were Roger Maris (61), Mickey Mantle (54), Moose Skowron (28), Yogi Berra (22), Johnny Blanchard (21) and Elston Howard (21).

Chicago 7, Minnesota 6 -- Paul Konerko hit a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Cleveland 7, Detroit 6 -- Jhonny Peralta’s two-run double keyed Cleveland’s five-run seventh at Detroit.

Kansas City 7, Tampa Bay 6 -- Ruben Gotay hit a run-scoring grounder in the 10th inning for the Royals at St. Petersburg, Fla. The announced crowd at Tropicana Field was 8,392, but actual turnout appeared to be between 1,000 and 2,000.