American League

Blue Jays 12, Rangers 4

Edwin Encarnacion hit a grand slam to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, helping David Price get a win on his 30th birthday in Toronto’s victory against Texas on Wednesday night.

Encarnacion sent his 26th homer into the Blue Jays’ bullpen in left-center after Kevin Pillar opened a six-run sixth inning with a long ball that chased Texas starter Colby Lewis (14-6). Lewis issued four of a season-high 11 walks by Rangers pitchers.

Pitching on his birthday for the first time in the majors, Price (13-4) threw five scoreless innings after allowing Adrian Beltre’s two-run homer in the first.

The AL East-leading Blue Jays won their fifth straight, while the Rangers dropped a half-game behind Minnesota in the race for the second AL wild card.

Jose Bautista walked four times and scored twice as Toronto went two games up in the division on the New York Yankees, who lost to Houston 6-2. The Astros moved 5 ½ games ahead of Texas atop the AL West.

Lewis threw two of three wild pitches by the Rangers — both during a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with former Texas player Justin Smoak’s two-run homer to break a 2-all tie in the fifth inning. Smoak’s 13th long ball hit off the facade of the upper deck in right field and extended Toronto’s franchise record to 16 straight road games with a homer.

Encarnacion’s second grand slam of the season — both against the Rangers — and the eighth of his career ended a stretch of six straight batters reaching to start the sixth. Pillar’s eighth homer was one of his three hits.

After Texas reliever Spencer Patton walked two and didn’t retire any of the five batters he faced, Sam Freeman walked four more. Anthony Bass had a wild pitch that scored Troy Tulowitzki for a 12-2 lead in the seventh as Toronto set a club record with its 20th game of at least 10 runs.

Price retired the last nine hitters he faced after the Rangers started the fourth with a single by Mike Napoli and a walk to Elvis Andrus, who was celebrating his 27th birthday. The left-handed ace is 4-0 in five starts since the Blue Jays acquired him from Detroit the day before the July 31 trade deadline.

It was Price’s second straight win in Texas, where he had a 7.36 ERA in five starts coming in. He allowed five hits and two runs with eight strikeouts in his first appearance at the Rangers since a complete game in Tampa Bay’s 5-2 victory in an AL wild-card tiebreaker in 2013.

Beltre put Texas ahead 2-0 with his 407th homer, tying with Duke Snider at No. 51 on the career list. Shin-Soo Choo had a two-run single among his three hits.

Lewis, going for a career high in wins, allowed six hits and five runs — four earned — in five innings.

Tigers 5, Angels 0

Justin Verlander lost a bid for his third no-hitter when Chris Iannetta lined a leadoff double in the ninth inning that landed on the left-field line, and Detroit beat Los Angeles.

Trying to become the sixth major leaguer to throw three no-hitters, Verlander settled instead for a one-hit shutout.

He was an inch away from so much more.

Iannetta’s shot, just barely fair, kicked up chalk and rolled into the left-field corner. Verlander attempted to will it foul with body English, then arched his back in disappointment after the ball hit right on the line.

Verlander (2-6) retired the next three batters to finish his seventh career shutout and first since May 18, 2012, against Pittsburgh. The right-hander struck out nine and walked two in his first win since July 29.

He faced only 28 hitters — one more than the minimum — after inducing double plays following both walks.

Orioles 8, Royals 5

Chris Davis, Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop each hit a two-run homer off Johnny Cueto, and the Baltimore Orioles totaled five long balls in all to power their way to a victory over the Kansas City Royals that snapped a six-game skid.

Wei-Yin Chen (8-6) allowed three runs for the Orioles while scattering nine hits over six innings. The losing pitcher against the Royals in Game 3 of last year’s AL Championship Series, he has now gone seven straight starts without a defeat.

Cueto (9-9) labored through five innings for Kansas City, allowing 10 hits and a walk. It was his second consecutive shoddy start after yielding a career-high 13 hits in a loss at Boston.

Mariners 8, Athletics 2

Felix Hernandez made just two mistakes in eight strong innings, Nelson Cruz hit his AL-leading 39th homer and drove in three runs and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics.

Seattle closed out its brief homestand with Hernandez rebounding after getting knocked around in his last start against the Chicago White Sox.

Hernandez (15-8) allowed a homer to Billy Burns on the first pitch of the game and a solo homer to Brett Lawrie on the first pitch of the seventh inning. Oakland’s only other hit off Hernandez was a soft single from Billy Butler in the fifth.

Hernandez struck out seven, walked one and became the second AL pitcher to reach 15 wins.

Cruz’s homer came in the eighth, but it was an early offensive outburst that backed Hernandez. Seattle sent 10 batters to the plate in the first and scored four times that inning off Chris Bassitt (1-6).

Twins 5, Rays 3

Eduardo Escobar homered twice and Joe Mauer had a tiebreaking RBI single as Minnesota beat the Tampa Bay Rays for the Twins’ sixth consecutive win.

Minnesota has its longest winning streak away from home since a six-game stretch Aug. 14-26, 2007. The Twins are 6-3 entering the final game of a 10-game trip Thursday night.

Escobar hit solo shots in the sixth and eighth innings, with the second one making 5-3. Mauer had a bases-loaded single and Trevor Plouffe hit a sacrifice fly as the Twins took a 4-2 lead in the seventh.

Brian Duensing (4-0) replaced Twins starter Tyler Duffey with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, and retired Daniel Nava and pinch-hitter Brandon Guyer to preserve a 2-2 tie. Kevin Jepsen pitched the ninth for his eighth save.

Rays starter Chris Archer (11-10) took the loss.

National League

Padres 6, Nationals 5

Justin Upton homered twice and had three RBIs, Matt Kemp added a two-run double and the San Diego Padres held on to beat the Washington Nationals.

Tyson Ross (9-9) allowed four runs in 6 1-3 innings for the Padres, who evened the three-game series and will try for their fifth straight series victory in Thursday’s finale.

Denard Span doubled twice for Washington in his second game back from the disabled list following back spasms, but Gio Gonzalez (9-7) failed to pitch more than five innings for a sixth time in seven starts.

Ryan Zimmerman drove in two runs on productive outs for the Nationals, who trailed 5-0 midway through the fourth before closing to within a run after a three-run seventh.

Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 36th save.

Cardinals 3, Diamondbacks 1

John Lackey pitched seven strong innings and St. Louis beat Arizona, its seventh straight win over the Diamondbacks.

The Cardinals scored four first-inning runs off Robbie Ray on Tuesday, but had to wait a little longer Wednesday with Patrick Corbin limiting them to Mark Reynolds’ homer in six innings.

St. Louis quickly took advantage after Corbin left, scoring twice off David Hernandez (1-4) in the seventh. Kolten Wong had an RBI double and Matt Carpenter a run-scoring single in the inning.

Lackey (11-8) bounced back from a shaky start, giving up a solo homer to Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning and little else. Trevor Rosenthal worked around a walk in the ninth for his 40th save.

St. Louis moved to 36 games over .500 (81-45), its highest since finishing the 2005 season plus-38. The Cardinals have won 12 of 13 against Arizona.

Dodgers 7, Reds 4

Scott Van Slyke, A.J. Ellis and Yasiel Puig all homered during a five-run fourth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers held on for a victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Kike Hernandez added three hits and Adrian Gonzalez chipped in a ninth-inning RBI double for the NL West-leading Dodgers, have won two straight games after a season-high, five-game losing streak.

The Reds, who have lost 11 of their last 12 games and slipped to 1-8 on their 10-game homestand, reached left-hander Brett Anderson for three unearned runs. Anderson (8-8) gave up five hits with one walk, four strikeouts and a wild pitch.

Luis Avilan struck out Jay Bruce with the tying runs on base in the eighth and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 25th save.

Giants 4, Cubs 2

Buster Posey followed Brandon Belt's leadoff triple in the sixth with a go-ahead double, Jake Peavy won for the second time in six starts, and San Francisco beat Chicago to stop its six-game winning streak.

Kelby Tomlinson added an RBI double of his own in the sixth against Kyle Hendricks as the Giants ended a three-game slide with their second victory in seven games. Nori Aoki homered for San Francisco.

With their first win in six meetings this month against the Cubs, San Francisco avoided its first six-game skid in the series since 1993-94.

Peavy (4-6) allowed five hits and two runs, struck out three and walked three in 6 1-3 innings to beat the Cubs for the second time in his last six outings against them. He took a 2-0 loss at Wrigley Field on Aug. 9.

Pirates 7, Marlins 2

Andrew McCutchen homered and drove in four runs to help the Pittsburgh Pirates to a victory over the Miami Marlins.

Jeff Locke (7-8) pitched seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits for the Pirates, who have won four of five.

Pittsburgh (76-49) remains four games behind first-place St. Louis (80-45) in the NL Central race.

Miami’s Chris Narveson (1-1) struggled in his first start since April 15, 2012, while with Milwaukee. He allowed seven runs and eight hits in 3 2-3 innings.

Martin Prado homered for the Marlins.

McCutchen hit an RBI double in the first inning and helped spark a six-run second with a three-run home run, his 20th.

McCutchen is 6 for 13 with three doubles, a home run, and six RBIs in the first three games of the series

Rockies 6, Braves 3

Brandon Barnes had three hits, including a two-run homer, and the Colorado Rockies extended Atlanta right-hander Shelby Miller’s winless streak to 18 starts with a victory over the Braves.

Miller (5-11) looked like he might break the streak, leading 3-0 in the seventh, but he gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning before leaving with two outs.

Jose Reyes capped the rally with a two-out triple to right-center that scored Barnes and Charlie Blackmon. Daniel Descalso and Blackmon had the other RBIs in the inning for Colorado.

Simon Castro (1-0) picked up the win in relief for the Rockies, who won two out of three for their first series win at Turner Field since 2005.

Barnes tacked on a two-run homer in the eighth off Edwin Jackson.

Interleague

Indians 6, Brewers 2

Jason Kipnis homered and drove in three runs, and the Cleveland Indians used six pitchers in a win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Kipnis, who leads the American League with a .325 batting average, gave Cleveland the lead with a two-run double with the bases loaded in the second inning. He added a solo homer in the eighth.

Rookie right-hander Cody Anderson, starting in place of the injured Carlos Carrasco, allowed two runs in 4 1-3 innings. Carrasco, who leads the Indians in wins, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a sore right shoulder.

Jeff Manship (1-0) worked 1 1-3 innings for his first win since April 26, 2014, when he was pitching for Philadelphia against Arizona.

Jimmy Nelson (10-10) allowed five runs and walked eight in 3 1-3 innings in losing for the first time since July 10.