Twins declaw Tigers

DETROIT — After only 86 pitches, Minnesota’s Phil Hughes left the game with a shutout in progress.

Afterward, he not only endorsed the move, but said he helped his manager make the decision.

“Every pitcher has a certain amount of pride. In the seventh, I felt like my stuff and location were deteriorating,” Hughes said. “You don’t want to give the game away just because you’re feeling prideful.”

Hughes pitched seven innings, and the Twins beat Justin Verlander for the first time in over four years, 2-1 on Friday night. Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run single off Verlander in the seventh.

Hughes (4-1) allowed eight hits in his fourth consecutive win, but he was fine letting the bullpen take over for the final two innings.

“The catcher and him both said, ‘He’s losing it,’” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “If a pitcher feels that he’s losing it off the ball and starting to misfire, then you’ve got to take him out of the ballgame. Him being honest there allowed us to get our bullpen up going.”

Casey Fien pitched the eighth, and Glen Perkins allowed a run in the ninth but held on for his ninth save in 10 chances.

Verlander allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.

The start of the game was delayed 27 minutes by rain, but the teams played through an emergency alarm that went off in the top of the ninth. The Tigers later said there was a mechanical fire in a janitor closet that was quickly contained and put out.

“I almost took off running,” Detroit outfielder Torii Hunter joked. “I’m thinking biohazardous or something.”

Players paused briefly, then the game went on.

The injury-plagued Twins snapped a three-game losing streak. Star first baseman Joe Mauer sat out a fifth straight game. He’s been dealing with back spasms.

Alex Avila hit an RBI double off Perkins with one out in the ninth, but pinch-hitter J.D. Martinez popped out and Rajai Davis struck out to end it.

Hughes lost 14 games last season for the New York Yankees, but the right-hander has pitched well after signing with the Twins in the offseason. He struck out Avila with men on first and third in the fourth, and got Miguel Cabrera to fly out with two on and two out in the fifth.

Hughes struck out three, and he went a third straight start without a walk. He began this game with 13 straight strikes.

“They weren’t all strikes in the zone. They were hacking,” Hughes said. “When you’re around the plate and pop a fastball up every now and then, they’re going to be aggressive and swinging at it. That’s kind of what I am. Sometimes it hurts me a little bit if I’m around the plate too much, but when I have good stuff, it’s usually all right.”

Verlander (4-2) escaped jams in the second and third, but he couldn’t retire Suzuki with the game on the line in the seventh. It was his first loss in his last 10 decisions against the Twins. The last time they beat him was April 27, 2010.

“Pretty good for the first six innings, but I wasn’t great in the seventh,” Verlander said. “I had a couple inexcusable pitches. It wasn’t that I made mistakes, but I got away from the pitches I wanted to throw.”

In addition to Mauer, Minnesota is also without outfielder Josh Willingham, who has a left wrist contusion, but the Twins were able to beat the Tigers without any extra-base hits.

RANGERS 8

RED SOX 0

ARLINGTON, Texas — Yu Darvish came oh, so close again.

The Japanese ace fell one out shy of a no-hitter for the second time Friday night, giving up only a ninth-inning single to David Ortiz in the Texas Rangers’ 8-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Rookie second baseman Rougned Odor, positioned in shallow right field, made a diving attempt but the ball was out of his reach. If the Rangers had not shifted their infield — a standard practice against Ortiz — it probably would have been a routine grounder to second.

Darvish lost a perfect-game bid with two outs in the ninth inning last season against Houston. This time, he bent his knees and put his glove on his hips after the base hit. Texas manager Ron Washington then made a slow walk to the mound, with the 45,392 in attendance cheering and chanting “Yuuuuuu!”

Darvish struck out 12 and walked two while throwing 126 pitches.

The 20-year-old Odor, playing his second major league game, and Ortiz were also involved in the seventh-inning play that ended Darvish’s try for a perfect game.

Darvish struck out eight of the first 11 batters he faced and retired 20 in a row until Ortiz hit a high popup to right field with two outs in the seventh.

Odor was also shifted into shallow right then and drifted back for the ball while right fielder Alex Rios was coming in before suddenly stopping. Odor lunged with his glove extended above his head but the ball dropped between them.

An error was charged to Rios after official scorer Steve Weller looked at replays and conferred with several others.

ANGELS 4, JAYS 3

TORONTO — Joe Smith and Ernesto Frieri insist they don’t mind which one of them is called on to pitch the ninth inning for the Los Angeles Angels, even if it means some bullpen mixing and matching from game to game.

Raul Ibanez drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, Mike Trout hit a solo home run and the Angels won their fifth straight game in Toronto, beating the Blue Jays 4-3 on Friday night.

Smith returned after a four-game absence to work the eighth, giving up a game-tying homer to Jose Reyes. Frieri, who started the season as the closer before being replaced by Smith, finished it off with a perfect ninth, picking up his fourth save in six chances.

“Whenever they feel like they need me, I’m going to be ready,” Frieri said. “Doesn’t matter what inning, doesn’t matter what situation. I’m a competitor. I just want to compete.”

Smith said he’s equally untroubled about whether he’s the one handling setup duties or nailing down saves.

“I’m going to pitch whenever they need me,” he said. “Whatever helps us win.”

Bench coach Dino Ebel, who is managing the team for two days while Mike Scioscia attends his daughter’s college graduation, said he and pitching coach Mike Butcher decided before the game that Smith would get the call if the top of Toronto’s lineup was due up in the eighth.

“We felt Smith would be a good matchup for the top of that order and getting to (Jose) Bautista and (Edwin) Encarnacion,” Ebel said.

Erick Aybar had three hits and scored twice, including the decisive run in the ninth, as the Angels won for the eighth time in nine meetings with the Blue Jays and halted Toronto’s season-best winning streak at five games.

Ibanez called Aybar “an electric player to watch.”

Aybar tripled off Brett Cecil (0-3) to begin the ninth and Trout reached safely when first baseman Encarnacion couldn’t find the bag after taking the throw on Trout’s infield grounder. Albert Pujols was intentionally walked to load the bases for Ibanez.

Smith (2-0) got the win despite giving up Reyes’ homer, his first appearance since May 3 after being sidelined with a sore muscle in his right side.

PIRATES 6

CARDINALS 4

PITTSBURGH — Neil Walker wasn’t expecting to have a big offensive game Friday night, especially with Michael Wacha pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The last time Wacha started at PNC Park was in the Game 4 of last year’s National League Division Series and he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in beating the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yet the hot-hitting Walker had three hits, including a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning, and drove in four runs to help the Pirates beat the Cardinals 6-4.

“Wacha is so good, as we found out last year,” said Walker, who has reached base in 22 of his last 40 plate appearances. “He throws hard and you’ve got to shorten up your swing and put the ball in play. That’s the best way to approach him because you’re usually not going to do too much against him.”

While Walker’s first two hits were against Wacha, his seventh homer came off Carlos Martinez (0-2) and rallied the Pirates from a 4-3 deficit for their third straight victory. Jordy Mercer and pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez led off the inning with singles and were bunted up a base by Jose Tabata before Walker hit a drive into the right-field stands.

“Martinez is as tough as Wacha, but he hung a slider and I was able to put a good swing on it,” Walker said. “I was surprised. The guy has such great stuff that you’re not thinking that you’re going to hit a home run in that situation. It was huge.”

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said it didn’t appear that Martinez got the home run pitch “where he wanted it.”

Mercer had three of the Pirates’ 12 hits, while Ike Davis, who hit a two-run double in the first inning to open the scoring, and Tabata had two hits apiece. Pittsburgh beat St. Louis for the 10th time in 13 games at home.

YANKS 5, BREWERS 3

MILWAUKEE — Masahiro Tanaka pitched into the seventh inning, Yangervis Solarte hit a three-run homer and the New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 on Friday night.

It was New York’s first game in Milwaukee since 2005, and Yankees captain Derek Jeter got an unusual greeting when a fan jumped out of the left-field stands and walked briskly toward his spot at shortstop in the sixth inning.

Jeter didn’t appear to notice until the fan was within an arm’s length or so. Jeter, who plans to retire after this season, calmly took a few steps away as several security guards rushed in to tackle the person.

Tanaka (5-0) allowed two runs and seven hits in his first interleague game. The Japanese right-hander struck out seven and walked one.

Tanaka also struck out in each of his first three major league at-bats.

Yovani Gallardo (2-2) matched Tanaka pitch for pitch until New York scored four times in the fourth on four hits, highlighted by Solarte’s second home run of the season. Carlos Beltran walked and Brian McCann singled before Solarte hit Gallardo’s first pitch over the right-field wall.

The Yankees tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning. Beltran hit a leadoff double against Brandon Kintzler, and Ichiro Suzuki then came in to run. Suzuki stole third and scored on Mark Teixeira’s roller down the first-base line, making it 5-2.

The Brewers got on the board in the sixth. Carlos Gomez and Scooter Gennett started the inning with consecutive doubles, and Jonathan Lucroy followed with an RBI single.

Tanaka then got Aramis Ramirez to ground into a double play and struck out Mark Reynolds.