The Associated Press

It was a night of clinches in the American League, with the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics wrapping up the three division titles in a 2 1/2-hour span.

The Yankees began Tuesday night's celebrations, clinching their sixth straight AL East title as Jason Giambi hit a grand slam in the ninth inning and Jose Contreras struck out a career-high nine in a 7-0 victory in Chicago.

Of course with the Yankees, a division title isn't all that much to get excited about.

"Enjoy it for a couple of days," captain Derek Jeter told his teammates. "But we've got three more steps to go, fellas."

In Minneapolis, the Twins beat Cleveland 4-1 for their 10th in a row, then had to wait for Chicago and Kansas City to lose before they could celebrate their second straight Central title.

The Twins overcame a 7 1/2-game deficit at the All-Star break, going 45-20 in the second half - the best record in baseball.

"We fought each other, we yelled at each other, we did everything we possibly could to motivate each other," first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said. "We've been through a lot together."

At Oakland, the Athletics tied it in the ninth and beat Texas 4-3 on Adam Melhuse's RBI single in the 10th.

The A's clinched their second straight AL West title and fourth playoff trip in a row about 20 minutes later when second-place Seattle lost 2-1 in 11 innings in Anaheim.

"I hope you guys are ready for us to do something we haven't done the last couple years, and that's win a championship," pitcher Tim Hudson said. "Maybe this is the year we stumble to the finish line and win it all."

In other games, Detroit beat Kansas City 15-6, Boston edged Baltimore 6-5 in 10 innings, and Toronto beat Tampa Bay 8-5.

Yankees 7, White Sox 0

Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera hit solo homers, and Hideki Matsui drove in his team-high 106th run for the Yankees.

Chicago has lost nine of its last 13 games.

Jose Contreras (7-2) allowed four hits in eight innings to beat Mark Buehrle (14-14), who gave up two runs and eight hits in seven innings.

Twins 4, Indians 1

Kenny Rogers (13-8) came within one out of a shutout, allowing a two-out RBI single to Josh Bard. Eddie Guardado finished for his 40th save.

Shannon Stewart drove in two runs and Cristian Guzman went 2-for-2 with a homer and two runs.

Jake Westbrook (7-10) gave up four runs - three earned - and six hits in seven innings.

Athletics 4, Rangers 3

Melhuse got the winning hit off Francisco Cordero (5-8), who blew his league-high 10th save.

Jermaine Dye had driven in the tying run for Oakland with a double in the ninth after Todd Greene's solo homer off closer Keith Foulke (9-1) in the top of the inning put Texas ahead 3-2.

Angels 2, Mariners 1

Tim Salmon homered off former teammate Shigetoshi Hasegawa (2-4) in the 11th. Randy Winn had tied the score in the ninth with an RBI single off Troy Percival.

Francisco Rodriguez (8-3) pitched a hitless 11th for the victory.

Tigers 15, Royals 6

Visiting Detroit (39-118) stopped a 10-game losing streak but still must win four of its last five to avoid tying the post-1900 loss record of 120 held by the 1962 New York Mets.

Warren Morris, Craig Monroe and A.J. Hinch all homered for the Tigers, who scored their most runs since getting 19 against Texas on Aug. 8, 2001. Tigers manager Alan Trammell missed the game to attend his mother's funeral.

Mike Maroth (8-21) gave up six runs on 10 hits in five innings. Jose Lima (8-2) gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

Todd Walker tied it with a three-run homer off Jorge Julio with two outs in the ninth at Fenway Park, and David Ortiz won it with a solo shot against Kurt Ainsworth (0-1) in the 10th.

Byung-Hyun Kim (8-5) pitched a scoreless 10th for Boston, which improved to 3 1/2 games ahead of Seattle in the AL wild-card race.

Blue Jays 8, Devil Rays 5

Carlos Delgado hit his 299th homer, breaking a 4-all tie in the fifth against Victor Zambrano (11-10), and Reed Johnson added a two-run shot at SkyDome.

Josh Towers became the second straight Toronto pitcher to be ejected, getting tossed for throwing behind Aubrey Huff in the fifth. Roy Halladay was ejected for hitting Rocco Baldelli with a pitch Monday.

Delgado gave Toronto a 5-4 lead in the bottom half with a solo shot off Victor Zambrano (11-10).

Jason Kershner (3-3) allowed one run and three hits in 3 1/3 innings.