Angels bail out Sox by completing sweep of Tigers

Jim Leyland is coming up on a half-century in baseball, so it’s fairly significant when the Detroit Tigers manager says he’s never seen an outfield play better defense than the Los Angeles Angels.

That doesn’t make the Angels’ weekend sweep of the Tigers sting much less, however.

Zack Greinke pitched seven innings of five-hit ball, Mike Trout hit a leadoff homer for the second straight day and the host Angels completed their second consecutive series sweep with a 3-2 victory over the slumping Tigers on Sunday.

Anibal Sanchez (2-5) pitched seven solid innings for the Tigers, yielding seven hits without a walk.

“We didn’t win any games in this series, but we’re right there,” said Brennan Boesch, who had an RBI double. “We’re only [two] back, so every game going forward is huge, especially the series in Chicago.”

Andy Dirks homered for the Tigers, who remain two games behind the White Sox in the AL Central despite losing five of six. The Tigers visit the Sox for a key fourgame series starting Monday.

Peter Bourjos made the final stellar defensive play in a weekend full of Angels gems, sprinting to grab Austin Jackson’s drive into the gap with a runner on second in the eighth.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an outfield play a better series than they played against us,” Leyland said.

Yanks roll behind Granderson

Slumping Curtis Granderson came off the bench to hit his 35th homer and drive in five runs, and the New York Yankees beat the host Baltimore Orioles 13-3 to regain sole possession of first place in the AL East and earn an important split of the season series.

In other games of note ...

B.J. Upton ripped three home runs and James Shields (14-8) threw a two-hitter to lead the host Tampa Bay Rays to a 6-0 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Ricky Nolasco (12-12) tossed a four-hitter to shut out the Washington Nationals for the second time in two weeks and Giancarlo Stanton homered for the third day in a row to lead the visiting Miami Marlins to an 8-0 victory.

Brian McCann homered and drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th to lift the Atlanta Braves to their fifth victory in a row, 3-2 against the host New York Mets.

Matt Dominguez cracked a three-run homer and Tyler Greene added a solo shot to help the visiting Houston Astros to a 5-1 victory, slowing the Cincinnati Reds’ run to the NL Central title.