Edwin Jackson

Edwin Jackson pitched seven shutout innings and remained unbeaten against Cleveland this season, and the first-place Tigers kept their slender AL Central lead over Minnesota with a 3-1 win over the Indians, who dropped their ninth in a row Tuesday night. In losing nine of 13, the Tigers let a seven-game lead on Sept. 6 slip to two over the Twins last weekend. But with their second straight win, they stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota, which defeated Chicago. -- associated press

The New York Yankees are working on a trade to acquire Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros and expect the deal to be completed Saturday. New York will send a couple of prospects to the Astros, a baseball executive familiar with the discussions said. The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because talks were continuing. "Nothing's been completed," Berkman said Friday in Houston, before the Astros played Milwaukee. A five-time All-Star, Berkman has full no-trade rights and his approval is necessary for a trade.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Edwin Jackson was still throwing fastballs in the high 90s in the ninth inning as he defeated the Texas Rangers for his first career complete game. Jackson pitched a four-hitter to send the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to a 3-0 victory over the Rangers in 96-degree heat Saturday night. "When he gets deep into the game, he starts throwing the ball aggressively," Devil Rays Manager Joe Maddon said. "He still had 99 [mph] in the tank. I like it when guys smell it like that."

This has been a season of extremes for closer Jonathan Broxton , who went from spending most of April caged in the bullpen to saving more games in one month than any pitcher in Dodgers history in May. Broxton, who saved only one game in the first month of the season, saved 12 in the second. He completed his record-setting month by earning his third victory of the season Monday night. Broxton went into the game Tuesday having saved 12 of the Dodgers' last 23 games and had an earned-run average of 1.16.

at Tampa Bay 5, Texas 3: Scott Kazmir took a shutout into the eighth inning and Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena homered on consecutive pitches as the Rays beat the Rangers. Detroit 3, at Oakland 2: Ryan Raburn homered in his first two at-bats and Edwin Jackson pitched six strong innings for the Tigers. Minnesota 5, at Kansas City 4 (10): Orlando Cabrera hit a run-scoring triple in the 10th inning for the Twins. Baltimore 5, at Chicago 1: Brian Roberts hit two home runs, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth inning.

New York 9, at Baltimore 4: Xavier Nady singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning for the Yankees, who improved to 3-50 when trailing after seven innings. Boston 8, at Toronto 4: The Red Sox, who won for the 10th time in their last 14 road games, ended a club-record six-game losing streak at Toronto. They beat the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre for the first time since completing a three-game sweep on May 10, 2007. Cleveland 7, at Texas 5: Fausto Carmona pitched six strong innings, yielding one run and six hits, as the Indians won for the 11th time in their last 14 games.

Three Days in ... St. Louis Going on 21 years ago, the Kansas City Royals of Bret Saberhagen, George Brett, Willie Wilson, Dan Quisenberry and Don Denkinger united to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in a World Series played along the Interstate 70 corridor, and that was about the last time the two franchises saw each other. They'll play a three-game series next week at St. Louis.

The New York Yankees are working on a trade to acquire Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros and expect the deal to be completed Saturday. New York will send a couple of prospects to the Astros, a baseball executive familiar with the discussions said. The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because talks were continuing. "Nothing's been completed," Berkman said Friday in Houston, before the Astros played Milwaukee. A five-time All-Star, Berkman has full no-trade rights and his approval is necessary for a trade.

As expected, Edwin Jackson will be recalled from double-A Jacksonville to start in place of the injured Odalis Perez against Florida on Monday, Manager Jim Tracy confirmed Saturday. Perez returned to Los Angeles to have his strained abdominal muscle examined by physical therapist Pat Screnar today. Perez has an appointment with Dr. Frank Jobe Monday morning.

With Hideo Nomo and Edwin Jackson on the road to recovery from arm injuries, the Dodgers could be presented with an interesting situation in the coming weeks. If both return, the team would have seven starting pitchers. As of now the rotation of Brad Penny, Odalis Perez, Kazuhisa Ishii, Jeff Weaver and Jose Lima is set, and it has performed well of late. Manager Jim Tracy, however, said he doesn't believe a player should lose his job because of injury.

While the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks added All-Star Edwin Jackson to their rotation in a three-way trade involving the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees on Tuesday, the Dodgers were still faced with the possibility that journeyman knuckleballer Charlie Haeger might be their fifth starter on opening day. Actually, make that their fourth starter. But that wasn't because the Dodgers weren't asking around. General Manager Ned Colletti said he showed up to baseball's winter meetings with a list consisting of Roy Halladay and three mid-level pitchers he wanted to target, only to be reminded over the last two days that swapping players with another team is harder to do in December than it is in July with the trade deadline around the corner.

Edwin Jackson pitched seven shutout innings and remained unbeaten against Cleveland this season, and the first-place Tigers kept their slender AL Central lead over Minnesota with a 3-1 win over the Indians, who dropped their ninth in a row Tuesday night. In losing nine of 13, the Tigers let a seven-game lead on Sept. 6 slip to two over the Twins last weekend. But with their second straight win, they stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota, which defeated Chicago. -- associated press

Twists and turns along glory road The Dodgers could use a guy like Edwin Jackson , who averages seven innings per start and has not given up more than four runs since May 4. Jackson ranks third in the American League with a 2.96 earned-run average, trailing Cy Young Award favorites Zack Greinke and Felix Hernandez . The Dodgers had Jackson, of course. He made his major league debut six years ago, on his 20th birthday. He beat Randy Johnson , and the Dodgers and their fans envisioned the very success he is enjoying now. Didn't happen here.

at Tampa Bay 5, Texas 3: Scott Kazmir took a shutout into the eighth inning and Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena homered on consecutive pitches as the Rays beat the Rangers. Detroit 3, at Oakland 2: Ryan Raburn homered in his first two at-bats and Edwin Jackson pitched six strong innings for the Tigers. Minnesota 5, at Kansas City 4 (10): Orlando Cabrera hit a run-scoring triple in the 10th inning for the Twins. Baltimore 5, at Chicago 1: Brian Roberts hit two home runs, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth inning.

New York 9, at Baltimore 4: Xavier Nady singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning for the Yankees, who improved to 3-50 when trailing after seven innings. Boston 8, at Toronto 4: The Red Sox, who won for the 10th time in their last 14 road games, ended a club-record six-game losing streak at Toronto. They beat the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre for the first time since completing a three-game sweep on May 10, 2007. Cleveland 7, at Texas 5: Fausto Carmona pitched six strong innings, yielding one run and six hits, as the Indians won for the 11th time in their last 14 games.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Edwin Jackson was still throwing fastballs in the high 90s in the ninth inning as he defeated the Texas Rangers for his first career complete game. Jackson pitched a four-hitter to send the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to a 3-0 victory over the Rangers in 96-degree heat Saturday night. "When he gets deep into the game, he starts throwing the ball aggressively," Devil Rays Manager Joe Maddon said. "He still had 99 [mph] in the tank. I like it when guys smell it like that."

When Edwin Jackson, making an emergency start in place of the injured Odalis Perez, faces Florida's Dontrelle Willis in the series finale today, it will mark the first time this season that two African Americans have started against each other in a major league game, though Jackson was actually born in Germany. "Every time we face each other we'll go out there and battle and it's fun," Willis said. "I think we take a certain pride into it because it's a selected few."

Three Days in ... St. Louis Going on 21 years ago, the Kansas City Royals of Bret Saberhagen, George Brett, Willie Wilson, Dan Quisenberry and Don Denkinger united to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in a World Series played along the Interstate 70 corridor, and that was about the last time the two franchises saw each other. They'll play a three-game series next week at St. Louis.