The Tampa Bay Rays don't need to brawl to prove they are no longer pushovers.
Avoiding a repeat of their benches-clearing skirmish June 5, the Rays and Red Sox squared off Monday night as the top two teams in the AL East. The surprising Rays held on to beat Boston 5-4 to increase their division lead to 1½ games.
James Shields scattered five hits over 6 1-3 innings and B.J. Upton and Gabe Gross homered, helping the Rays remain unbeaten (4-0) at home this season against the Red Sox.
"It's no fluke. They're a talented group," Boston's Mike Lowell said. "I think a lot of times when you have a lot of young guys, you don't know how they measure up. There's no track record. But I think the talent is there. You've got to respect that."
In other AL games, it was: Texas 2, N.Y. Yankees 1; Kansas City 6, Baltimore 5, 11 innings; Detroit 5, Minnesota 4; Chicago White Sox 9, Cleveland 7; Oakland 6, L.A. Angels 1; Toronto 2, Seattle 0.
It was the first meeting between the combative division rivals since their much talked about brawl at Fenway that led to the suspensions of eight players, including Shields (6-5).
Both managers said beforehand that they didn't anticipate any carryover from the melee that ensued after Shields hit Coco Crisp in the leg with a pitch during the second inning of a 7-1 Tampa Bay loss.
Shields was suspended for six games for his part in the brawl. This time, he limited Boston to two runs before Tampa Bay's bullpen barely held on to hand the Red Sox their 11th straight one-run road loss.
The Rays scored four runs off Justin Masterson (4-2), three of them following two-out walks. Upton homered on the right-hander's first pitch of the game, and Gross added a two-run shot after the Boston starter walked Dioner Navarro in the fourth.
J.D. Drew hit his 16th homer for Boston, cutting Shields' lead to 4-2 in the sixth. It gave him 12 homers in June, third most by a player in Red Sox history behind Jackie Jensen (14 in 1958) and Ted Williams (13 in 1950).
J.P. Howell got the final out of the ninth after Boston scored twice on Brandon Moss' RBI double and Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly off closer Troy Percival that trimmed the Red Sox deficit to one run.
Percival limped off the mound after appearing to tweak a sore hamstring backing up the plate on Varitek's sacrifice fly. Percival had an animated argument with Rays manager Joe Maddon before leaving.
"Percy was very upset, and I knew he was going to be very upset. He and I go way back, and everything's going to be fine between he and I," Maddon said. "He's been (closing games) for years and I know he wants to be the last man standing, but I have to do what I believe is right at that particular moment."
The 38-year-old closer apologized to the manager.
"I hate coming off the mound in the middle of the inning -- don't like doing it, and it's embarrassing -- but Joe did the right thing. ... I know better than to act like that. The situation got the better of me."
Rangers 2, Yankees 1
At New York, Scott Feldman (2-4) and a reshuffled Texas bullpen shut down New York on four hits.
The win moved Texas to 43-41, the first time since Sept. 22, 2006, the Rangers have been two games over .500.
Rangers relievers threw 3 1-3 perfect innings, never letting a ball out of the infield. C.J. Wilson closed for his 18th save.
Alex Rodriguez hit his 534th home run for the Yankees, tying Jimmie Foxx for 14th place on the career list.
Mike Mussina (10-6) was the loser.
Royals 6, Orioles 5, 11 innings
At Baltimore, Miguel Olivo homered off George Sherrill with two outs in the ninth to force extra innings, and Jose Guillen singled in the tiebreaking run in the 11th for Kansas City, winners of six straight on the road.
Mike Aviles led off the 11th with an infield hit off Chad Bradford (3-3). After a sacrifice and an intentional walk, Guillen blooped an opposite-field single to right.
Ron Mahay (4-0) pitched two innings and Joakim Soria got three outs for his 22nd save.
Tigers 5, Twins 4
At Minneapolis, Curtis Granderson's go-ahead RBI single capped Detroit's two-run eighth inning and the Tigers won their sixth in a row.
Casey Fossum (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief, and Joel Zumaya got five outs for his first save of the season in his first opportunity.
Matt Guerrier (4-3) took the loss as the Twins bullpen failed to hold a lead. After not allowing an earned run in 24 1-3 innings, Minnesota relievers gave up three to the Tigers.
White Sox 9, Indians 7
At Chicago, Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate, hitting his second grand slam in four games, off Jeremy Sowers (0-4), and adding a solo shot to lead surging Chicago.
Jim Thome got the White Sox started with a three-run homer in the first as the AL-Central leaders won their fifth straight.
Cleveland's Jhonny Peralta went 5-for-5 with three doubles, his 12th homer and three RBIs.
Gavin Floyd (9-4) allowed four runs and seven hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings.
Athletics 6, Angels 1
At Anaheim, Calif., Rookie Greg Smith threw a four-hitter and Eric Chavez hit a two-run double for Oakland.
Smith (5-6) struck out three and walked two in his second complete game in 16 big league starts. He threw 101 pitches.
Jon Garland (7-5) was charged with four runs -- two earned -- and eight hits in six-plus innings. He struck out six.
Blue Jays 2, Mariners 0
At Seattle, Roy Halladay pitched his 10th career shutout, limiting Seattle to just four singles in Toronto's third straight win.
Halladay (9-6) allowed two singles to Richie Sexson, and a hit each to Willie Bloomquist and Jeremy Reed.