ARLINGTON, Texas — Already without injured third baseman Michael Young, the Texas Rangers suddenly lost slugger Josh Hamilton in the middle of the game when they were down.

"It seems like when adversity hits this team, they play their best," manager Ron Washington said.

Despite the absence of two of their All-Stars, the Rangers gained ground in the American League playoff chase with their third straight victory, 6-4 over Toronto last night.

Hamilton left because of sore lower back that has bothered him since last weekend. He was already hurting when he had a leadoff double to right in the fourth, sliding headfirst into second before scoring on a single by Nelson Cruz that got the Rangers to 3-2 before he left the game.

An inning later, the rookies at the top of the batting order put Texas ahead to stay.

Julio Borbon drew a one-out walk before 21-year-old rookie shortstop Elvis Andrus, moved from ninth to second in the order with Young (strained right hamstring) out, hit his sixth homer to make it 4-3.

An inning later, Cruz hit his 30th homer off Scott Richmond (6-8).

Texas moved to 3 1/2 games of the AL West-leading Angels, who have lost two in a row. It is the closest the Rangers have been in the division since the same margin Aug. 9 after a win in Los Angeles. The Rangers are 2 1/2 games behind wild-card leader Boston after the Red Sox lost at Tampa Bay.

YANKEES 10, ORIOLES 2

CC Sabathia (16-7) gave up a run and seven hits in seven innings for his AL-leading 16th victory, and Alex Rodriguez got his 2,500th career hit and drove in four runs as visiting New York swept a three-game sweep.

MARINERS 3, ANGELS 0

Felix Hernandez (14-5) spaced four hits over eight innings and host Seattle used a two-run seventh to spoil the Los Angeles debut of pitcher Scott Kazmir, acquired Aug. 28 from Tampa Bay.

WHITE SOX 4, TWINS 2

Gordon Beckham and Paul Konerko hit consecutive homers with two outs in the top of the ninth inning off All-Star closer Joe Nathan (2-2) to trigger a four-run rally, lifting Chicago over Minnesota.

ATHLETICS 10, ROYALS 4

Landon Powell hit his first career grand slam in a five-run second inning, and Trevor Cahill (8-12) won consecutive starts for the first time in more than two months as Oakland beat Kansas City.

TIGERS 4, INDIANS 2

Magglio Ordonez had three hits and Placido Polanco scored twice to help host Detroit beat Cleveland, which made five errors, the most the Indians had committed in a game since 1998.

RAYS 8, RED SOX 5

Pat Burrell snapped an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single and Evan Longoria followed with a two-run homer as host Tampa Bay closed to five games of wildcard-leading Boston.