CLEVELAND — Another victory under his belt, Cliff Lee emerged from his postgame shower, walked to his locker and began getting dressed.

He slipped on a T-shirt that said: Ace of Spades.

Right now, he's the ace of baseball.

Lee won his 11th straight decision and moved a remarkable 20 games over .500 with his 22nd win, leading the Cleveland Indians past the Kansas City Royals, 12-5, last night.

Unbeaten in 12 starts since July 11, Lee (22-2) allowed four earned runs in 8 1/3 innings to win his eighth straight start. He's 5-0 in five outings against Kansas City, which was also Lee's opponent for wins No. 4, 8, 18 and 21. Luckily, the Royals won't have to face the left-hander again until next season.

"I'm tired of that guy," Royals center fielder David DeJesus said with a laugh.

It's almost unthinkable to remember that Lee, who was demoted to the minor leagues last season and was left off Cleveland's 2007 postseason roster, had to win a spot as the Indians' fifth starter during spring training.

Lee is the first pitcher to have 20 more wins than losses since Oakland's Bob Welch in 1990. Welch went 27-6 and won the AL Cy Young Award that season, and Lee, who is scheduled to make three more starts, appears to be on his way to giving Cleveland its second straight award winner following CC Sabathia.

Kelly Shoppach had three RBIs off Gil Meche (11-11), Shin Soo-Choo homered and drove in three and Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera had two RBIs apiece for the Indians. Jose Guillen homered twice off Lee for Kansas City.

RED SOX 7, BLUE JAYS 0

Tim Wakefield (9-10) scattered three hits over eight innings, Kevin Cash hit a three-run homer, and David Ortiz and Jed Lowrie each drove in a pair of runs to lead host Boston over Toronto and close to two games of first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East.

ANGELS 5, MARINERS 3

Down to its last out, Robb Quinlan drew a walk off Miguel Batista (1-7) and Mike Napoli drove a 3-1 pitch deep over the fence in left field for his 16th homer and fourth RBI of the game in the bottom of the ninth, lifting Los Angeles over Seattle.

RANGERS 7, ATHLETICS 0

Matt Harrison (8-3) pitched a five-hitter for his first career shutout and complete game, Hank Blalock hit a home run for third consecutive game and Taylor Teagarden also homered to propel visiting Texas over Oakland.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 2, NATIONALS 1

Scott Olsen (7-10) gave up one run and six hits in six innings for his first win since July 19th — 10 starts — and host Florida became the first team in major league history to have four infielders hit at least 25 homers in a season.

Jorge Cantu hit his 25th homer in the fourth to tie it at 1, joining Mike Jacobs (32), Dan Uggla (30) and Hanley Ramirez (29), who have accounted for 116 of the Marlins' 188 homers this season.

PIRATES 10, CARDINALS 2

Nate McLouth finished a single short of the cycle and had a career-high five RBIs as Pittsburgh scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to open up a 9-0 lead en route to beating St. Louis to snap a six-game losing streak.

DODGERS 7, ROCKIES 2

James Loney drove in three runs, Chad Billingsley (15-10) gave up two runs and six hits over six innings and visiting Los Angeles won its third straight, while Colorado lost its sixth straight to fall 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers.

DIAMONDBACKS 3, REDS 2

Brandon Webb (20-7) scattered five hits over eight shutout innings to become the NL's first 20-game winner, and host Arizona held on to beat Cincinnati, which scored two runs in the ninth, to end a six-game losing streak.

GIANTS 5, PADRES 2

Travis Ishikawa hit a solo drive in the top of the sixth to break a 2-all tie as San Francisco roughed up Jake Peavy (9-11) for five runs and a season-high 11 hits in eight innings to beat San Diego.

NOTES

Cardinals: St. Louis right-hander Chris Carpenter will miss the rest of the 2008 season because of continued weakness from a muscle strain in his pitching shoulder. He last pitched in relief at Arizona on Sept. 2.

Red Sox: Right fielder J.D. Drew, who hasn't played since last month because of a back injury, left the team because of a death in the family and will miss the rest of Boston's four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Tigers: Detroit reliever Joel Zumaya has a stress fracture in a bone in his right shoulder and will be shut down for six to eight weeks. The hard-throwing right-hander, who is on the disabled list, will be evaluated at that time.

Diamondbacks: Arizona sent pitcher Micah Owings to the Cincinnati Reds yesterday to complete the August trade for slugger Adam Dunn. Owings was in his new Reds uniform last night against Arizona.