— BALTIMORE — Nick Markakis homered and scored twice to back an effective pitching performance by Jeremy Guthrie, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-4 Saturday night to provide manager Buck Showalter with his 900th career win.

Matt Wieters and Felix Pie each had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, who broke a three-game skid. Showalter became the 64th manager in big league history to win 900 games and improved to 18-13 with Baltimore since his debut on Aug. 3.

Guthrie (9-13) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out seven. Since the All-Star break, he’s 6-3 with a 2.51 ERA in 10 starts.

John Jaso, Matt Joyce and Matt Hawpe hit solo homers for Tampa Bay, which dropped 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the AL East.

Nationals 9, Pirates 2

PITTSBURGH — John Lannan allowed only one run for the second consecutive start, Ivan Rodriguez had three hits and four RBIs and the Washington Nationals broke a three-game losing streak with a win over the Pirates.

Rodriguez homered for the 308th time in his career in the fifth, an inning after hitting a two-run single off the wall as part of a five-run Nationals’ fourth. It was his first four-RBI game since having five June 15, 2007.

Pittsburgh rookie Neil Walker doubled to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, and Paul Maholm took over the National League lead in losses with his 14th.

Phillies 5, Brewers 4

PHILADELPHIA — Placido Polanco hit a tying sacrifice fly and Wilson Valdez hustled home with the go-ahead run on an errant throw on the same play, lifting Roy Halladay and the Phillies over the Brewers.

Halladay (17-10) pitched seven innings. Brad Lidge worked the ninth for his 20th save.

Corey Hart hit two solo homers, and Prince Fielder and Alcides Escobar also connected against Halladay. The right-hander allowed four homers for the first time in 342 career games and 316 starts.

Reds 6, Cardinals 1

ST. LOUIS— Rookie left-hander Travis Wood hit his first homer and allowed one unearned run over seven innings to lead the Reds over St. Louis.

The Reds, who have won seven of their last nine games, moved eight games ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central.

Yankees 7, Jays 5

NEW YORK — Marcus Thames launched a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and the Yankees beat the Blue Jays to set a season high with their eighth straight victory.

Robinson Cano had a two-run single and New York, still missing injured sluggers Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher, overcame a shaky return to the rotation for Javier Vazquez, who was yanked in the fifth.

With the best record in baseball but only a slim lead in the AL East over Tampa Bay, the Yankees won for the 14th time in 18 games and improved to 6-0 on their 10-game homestand.

Athletics 3, Angels 1

OAKLAND, Calif.  — Trevor Cahill pitched six scoreless innings to become Oakland’s first 15-game winner in three years with a victory over the Angels.

Mark Ellis, Daric Barton and Cliff Pennington all drove in runs for Oakland, which won its second straight following a four-game losing streak.

Torii Hunter homered for the Angels, who have lost nine of 12.

Cahill (15-6) gave up just four hits, all singles, but walked a career-high six. The right-hander, who has won six of his last eight starts, allowed only one runner past second.

Jared Weaver (11-11) walked three and allowed six hits in seven innings. He is winless since Aug. 6, a span of five starts.

Twins 12, Rangers 4

MINNEAPOLIS — Jim Thome homered twice for Minnesota, moving past Mark McGwire for ninth place on baseball’s all-time list and powering the Twins over the Rangers.

Thome went deep for the 583rd time in his career leading off the third inning, a shot to the second deck above right field estimated at 449 feet. Then with two on and two outs in the fourth, Thome’s full-count drive into the bullpen behind left-center made it 9-0 and gave him No. 584.

After six straight one-run games, the Twins let loose against slumping starter Colby Lewis (9-12) and the AL West-leading Rangers. Minnesota gave Carl Pavano (16-10) plenty of support and kept its AL Central lead over Chicago at four games for the moment.