Luis Castillo allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings and the Seattle Mariners held on for a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday to take sole possession of the American League West lead.
Sunday's victory coupled with the Texas Rangers' 13-inning loss to the Minnesota Twins moved the resurgent Mariners one game ahead of slumping Texas and the Houston Astros atop the division.
Seattle trailed the Rangers by 7 1/2 games in the standings on Aug. 15, but has now won 11 of its last 12 while Texas has lost nine of 10. The Mariners are an MLB-best 24-6 since July 25.
Castillo permitted just two baserunners in winning his fourth consecutive start and was supported by two home runs, a solo shot from Teoscar Hernandez in the second inning and a two-run blast from Julio Rodriguez in the fifth.
Nelson Velazquez's two-run homer off reliever Gabe Speier in the eighth brought Kansas City within 3-2, but Andres Munoz struck out the side in order in the ninth to finish off the Mariners' sweep of the three-game series.
Royals starter Alec Marsh struck out nine over 5 2/3 innings but allowed both Seattle homers to fall to 0-7 in 11 appearances (seven starts) this season.
Twins rally from five runs down to top reeling Rangers in 13 innings
The spiraling Rangers lost their share of the AL West lead after blowing a five-run cushion in a wild, 7-6 loss to the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins in 13 innings.
Minnesota trailed 5-0 after five innings before rallying to tie the game in the ninth, then took advantage of three walks by Rangers reliever Jonathan Hernandez in the 13th to push home the winning run.
Hernandez struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the 13th before walking Joey Gallo, Matt Wallner and Michael A. Taylor in succession to gift Minnesota its third victory of the four-game series.
Texas pitchers issued a season-high 10 walks on the afternoon, including one to Taylor by closer Aroldis Chapman with the Rangers clinging to a 5-4 lead with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Chapman was then called for a balk to send Taylor to second before surrendering a single to Donovan Solano that tied the game.
Royce Lewis began Minnesota's comeback with a grand slam off reliever Chris Stratton in the sixth that pulled the Twins within a run.
Jonah Heim had a grand slam off Twins starter Bailey Ober in the fourth inning that staked Texas to a 5-0 lead. The Rangers opened the scoring on J.P. Martinez's solo homer in the second.
Dylan Floro earned the win by stranding two Texas runners after coming on in the top of the 13th, while Dallas Keuchel tossed five scoreless innings after relieving Ober to start the fifth.
Brewers blast Padres to extend winning streak to eight games
The National League's hottest team resides in Milwaukee, where the Brewers used a seven-run sixth inning to rally to a 10-6 victory over the San Diego Padres and extend their season-high winning streak to eight games.
William Contreras went 2 for 4 with a homer and two RBIs, while Sal Frelick drove in three runs as the NL Central-leading Brewers completed a three-game sweep heading into an important three-game road series with the division-rival Chicago Cubs.
Milwaukee owns a four-game lead on second-place Chicago, which kept pace with Sunday's 10-1 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Brewers trailed 4-2 before loading the bases with one out in the sixth in front of Rowdy Tellez's pinch-hit, two-run double off Steven Wilson, who later walked Carlos Santana with the bases full to force in the go-ahead run.
Frelick followed with a two-run double off Nick Martinez to stretch the lead to 7-4 before Mark Canha capped the big inning with a two-run single.
Bryse Wilson recorded the win with four scoreless innings in relief of Brewers starter Adrian Houser, who lasted just two innings and allowed four runs.
Gary Sanchez went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer to lead San Diego, which dropped to a season-high nine games under .500 at 61-70.