The Tampa Bay Rays lost their seventh straight game to send baseball's feel-good story into the All-Star break on a sour note.

Jhonny Peralta drove in three runs and the Cleveland Indians beat Scott Kazmir and Tampa Bay 5-2 to complete a four-game sweep. Coupled with Boston's win over Baltimore, the Red Sox have taken over first place in the AL East by a half-game over the Rays.

Peralta's two-run homer in the fifth inning off Kazmir gave Cleveland a 4-2 lead.

The Indians entered the series having lost 10 straight, their worst streak since 1979. But the Tribe outscored the Rays 31-to-8 to extend their home winning streak over Tampa Bay to 13. The Rays have not won in Cleveland since September of 2005, and dropped 18 of the last 20 meetings overall.

Tom Mastny pitched two perfect innings to earn the win. He's 1-and-2. Masa Kobayashi, the Indians' fifth pitcher, worked the ninth for his fifth save.

Red Sox 2 Orioles 1

BOSTON (AP) -- Daisuke (DYS'-kay) Matsuzaka pitched six scoreless innings and the Boston Red Sox reclaimed the AL East lead going into the All-Star break with a 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

The Red Sox moved a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay and took the division lead for the first time since June 28th. Boston trailed by five games last weekend, then won five of six while the Rays lost seven in a row.

Matsuzaka is 10-and-1. He struggled with his control, but worked around four hits and five walks. Jonathan Papelbon escaped in the ninth for his 28th save of the season and 100th of his career.

Blue Jays 4 Yankees 1

TORONTO (AP) -- Marco Scutaro (SKOO'-tuh-roh) hit a three-run home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 4-1.

A.J. Burnett came within two outs of a shutout. Pitching on three days rest for the third time in his career, Burnett allowed one run and six hits, walked one and struck out eight. The right-hander is 10-and-8 overall. Burnett is 3-and-0 with a 3.00 ERA when pitching on three-days rest.

Jason Giambi spoiled Burnett's shutout bid with a solo home run in the ninth, his 19th. Jorge Posada followed with a single before B.J. Ryan replaced Burnett. Ryan got Robinson Cano to ground into a double play to record his 18th save in 20 opportunities.

Mariners 4 Royals 3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Adrian Beltre scored the go-ahead run on an error in the ninth, enabling the Seattle Mariners to close out a disappointing first half of the season with a 4-3 victory over Kansas City.

Beltre reached leading off the ninth against All-Star Joakim Soria when his popup to shallow center field tipped off the glove of shortstop Mike Aviles for a double.

He went to third on a sacrifice bunt, but then was caught between third and home when Willie Bloomquist grounded back to Soria.

Soria threw back to catcher John Buck and Beltre was trapped in a rundown. But a bad throw by Buck went over the third baseman's head. Beltre dashed home and Bloomquist sped into second.

Tigers 4 Twins 2

DETROIT (AP) -- Justin Verlander tossed seven sharp innings and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 4-2 to avoid a four-game sweep.

Verlander is 7-and-9. He allowed two runs and four hits. He's 5-and-0 in his last seven starts. He hasn't allowed more than two earned runs during his unbeaten streak, lowering his ERA from 5.05 to 4.15.

Angels 4 Athletics 3

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Erick Aybar's (EYE'-barz) infield single drove in the winning run with two outs in the ninth and the Los Angeles Angels rallied to beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3.

Casey Kotchman hit a home run and Howie Kendrick drove in two runs to help the Angels record their 19th comeback win. The Angels are a major-league best 36-and-19 in games decided by two runs or less.

Francisco Rodriguez got out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth for his major-league leading 38th save in 41 chances.

Rangers 12 White Sox 11

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- All-Star second baseman Ian Kinsler extended his majors-best hitting streak to 25 games with three hits and drove in three runs for the Texas Rangers, who held on for a wild 12-11 victory over the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox.

Marlon Byrd hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the seventh that finally put Texas ahead to stay. Michael Young, one of four Rangers going to Yankee Stadium for the All-Star game, added a two-run single to push his hitting streak to 15 games.

The Rangers are 50-and-46. They won for the ninth time in 13 games.

Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye homered for Chicago, which is 54-and-40 at the break. The Chisox had 22 hits. The White Sox maintained a game and a-half division lead over Minnesota despite their third loss in four games.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Mets 7 Rockies 0

NEW YORK (AP) -- Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer, Mike Pelfrey provided the latest dominant pitching performance and the New York Mets held down the Colorado Rockies 7-0 to take a nine-game winning streak into the All-Star break.

Carlos Delgado added a two-run homer for the Mets, who were 5 and a-half games back in the NL East on July 4th. But after a tumultuous first half that included the dismissal of manager Willie Randolph, New York will resume play Thursday at Cincinnati trailing division-leading Philadelphia by just a half-game.

The Mets' nine-game run is their best since April of 2000.

Astros 5 Nationals 0

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Brandon Backe (BAH'-kee) pitched seven innings and helped himself with a pair of hits in leading the Houston Astros to a 5-0 victory over the Washington Nationals in a pre-All-Star break battle of last-place teams.

Backe raised his batting average to .345 while lowering his ERA to 4.76. He scored after leading off the third inning with a double, then singled and scored in the seventh. He even attempted a suicide squeeze in the fourth, but fouled the pitch off and then struck out.

Undeterred by spending so much time on the basepaths on a hot summer day, Backe supplemented his first multihit game of the year with his best game to date on the mound. He allowed only five hits, walked four and struck out five. He's 6-and-9.

Cardinals 11 Pirates 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Aaron Miles drove in five runs with a home run and a triple and the St. Louis Cardinals held off a Pittsburgh comeback this time, beating the Pirates 11-6

Miles got three hits and is batting .344 as a starter. His three-run homer off Ian Snell in the fourth inning put St. Louis up 4-1.

After Pittsburgh rallied for the second day in a row and took a 6-5 lead on Chris Gomez's two-run double in the sixth, Miles finished St. Louis' four-run, go-ahead seventh with a two-run triple.

Ryan Ludwick added his 21st homer, a solo shot in the eighth that was his third in as many games. Troy Glaus completed a 10-for-13 weekend with a home run.

Phillies 6 Diamondbacks 3

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Pat Burrell (burl) hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the eighth inning and the Philadelphia Phillies held their NL East lead heading into the All-Star break by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-3.

After starters Brandon Webb and Cole Hamels left after the seventh with the score tied at 2, the Phillies broke away.

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard singled and Burrell followed with his 23rd home run. He connected off loser Chad Qualls, who falls to 2-and-7. Pedro Feliz hit a solo homer one out later.

Brewers 3 Reds 2

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- CC Sabathia pitched his first National League complete game and pinch-hitter Craig Counsell hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to help the Milwaukee Brewers avoid a sweep with a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Sabathia is 2-and-0. He allowed a sacrifice fly by David Ross in the second and one by Adam Dunn in the third, but shut down Cincinnati the rest of the way. From the fourth inning on, he struck out nine, including the side in the top of the ninth. He walked one.

The Brewers headed into the All-Star break in a second-place tie in the NL Central with St. Louis. The teams trail Chicago by five games.

Giants 4 Cubs 2

CHICAGO (AP) -- Tim Lincecum (LINZ'-ih-kuhm) tossed eight strong innings to hand fellow All-Star Ryan Dempster his first loss at Wrigley Field in pitching the San Francisco Giants to a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Lincecum is 11-and-2. He struck out nine and allowed one runs and six hits. He also hit his first career triple.

Braves 12 Padres 3

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- All-Star catcher Brian McCann homered and drove in three runs to help the Atlanta Braves rout the San Diego Padres 12-3 in the rubber game of the three-game series.

McCann extended his on-base streak to eight straight over the last two games. That includes three walks Saturday night and a walk and hit batsman along with his 3-for-3 on Sunday.

The Braves went into the break at 45-and-50. They are 6 and a-half games behind the Phillies in the NL East.

Rookie Jorge Campillo tossed six strong innings to even his record at 4-4. He had to leave the game in the top of the seventh when he fouled a pitch off his left foot.

Dodgers 9 Marlins 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Chad Billingsley had a career-high 13 strikeouts without walking a batter and the Los Angeles Dodgers used a six-run first inning to beat the Florida Marlins 9-1 to avoid a four-game sweep.

Billingsley is 9-and-8. He allowed a run and five hits over seven innings. The right-hander, a first-round pick by the Dodgers in 2003, goes into the All-Star break with a 3.25 ERA. He's 5-and-1 in his last six starts.