Indians double up Twins

Lou Marson hit a tie-breaking solo homer in the seventh inning and the Cleveland Indians completed a doubleheader sweep with a 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins last night, kicking off the important four-game series with a pair of victories at sweltering Target Field.

Marson also doubled and scored in the fifth against Scott Diamond, who turned in a decent major league debut for the Twins but took the defeat. Fausto Carmona (5-10) came off the disabled list and won for only the second time in his last 12 starts, beating the heat to finish six innings with two runs allowed.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a three-run homer to lift the Indians to a 5-2 win in the matinee and added an RBI single in the nightcap.

David Huff (1-0) pitched seven scoreless innings to earn the win in the opener. He gave up five hits and struck out five as an emergency call-up from Triple-A.

Yankees 5, Rays 4

Russell Martin drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, giving New York the victory over Tampa Bay.

Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner and Eduardo Nunez also drove in runs for the second-place Yankees, who rallied from a 4-1 deficit to remain 1½ games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East standings.

Rookie left-hander Alex Torres (0-1) yielded the winning run in his major league debut after New York loaded the bases on Curtis Granderson's single, an intentional walk to Nick Swisher and another walk to Andruw Jones. Martin worked Torres to a full count, fouled off a pitch and then took ball four to push Granderson across the plate.

White Sox 5, Royals 2

Mark Buerhle lasted seven innings in another impressive start, and Chicago capitalized on an error by young shortstop Alcides Escobar to beat Kansas City.

Buehrle (7-5) hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in his last 14 starts going back to April 22, though his modest record doesn't indicate how well he's been pitching.

The veteran left-hander, in the final year of a four-year, $56 million contract, allowed five hits while winning for the first time since June 9.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Marlins 4, Mets 1

Clay Hensley came off the disabled list to win his first major league start in three years, leading resurgent Florida past New York.

Mike Stanton hit a two-run double and slumping Mike Cameron followed with an RBI single for the Marlins, who have won nine of 10 to put themselves on the brink of climbing out of last place in the NL East.

Florida improved to 15-9 under 80-year-old Manager Jack McKeon, who took over after Edwin Rodriguez abruptly resigned late in the team's 1-19 June swoon.

In the makeup of a May 17 rainout, Hensley (1-2) allowed one hit over five scoreless innings against a depleted Mets lineup. It was his 41st big league start - but first since July 24, 2008, for San Diego at Pittsburgh.

Cubs 6, Phillies 1

Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena homered to back a dominant start by Rodrigo Lopez, and Chicago beat Philadelphia on a night when Phillies ace Roy Halladay left the game because of the heat.

Halladay doubled over and was visited by a trainer after Starlin Castro led off the fifth inning with a single. Drew Carpenter came in to replace him.

Halladay was drenched in sweat on a humid night in which the game-time temperature was 91. The heat clearly affected him. He gave up three runs and seven hits and took his first loss since May 15.

Nationals 5, Astros 2

Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman homered and Zimmerman drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning for Washington.

Laynce Nix added two insurance runs with an RBI single after Zimmerman's hit in the ninth off Houston starter Jordan Lyles (0-5). (next page »)