MINNEAPOLIS – Rookie Danny Valencia’s one-out single in the 10th inning drove in Michael Cuddyer from second base and gave the Twins a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.

Valencia is batting .332 with 16 doubles, two homers and 24 RBI in 208 at-bats, one of a handful of first-year players thrust into action this season.

“We need ’em. That’s for sure. Especially now, with all the injuries we’ve had to endure in the past two months,” Cuddyer said. “For him to come up and fill in nicely is huge.”

The Twins kept their four-game lead over Chicago in the AL Central, improving to 7-1 against the Tigers at Target Field, despite nine strikeouts and only four hits allowed in a career-high nine innings by Detroit starter Max Scherzer.

Jon Rauch (3-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the victory that should’ve gone to Francisco Liriano, who kept up his strong second half with seven shutout innings. He’s 6-0 with a 2.17 ERA in nine starts after the All-Star break. Extra rest he’s been given between turns recently has clearly helped.

“I feel way better,” Liriano said.

The second half of the season hasn’t been as much fun for Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who hasn’t had a winning record in games after the All-Star break since his World Series championship season with Florida in 1997. Leyland lamented some of the mistakes by a handful of youngsters playing more because of various injuries.

“They press a little bit,” he said. “We’ve got them throughout the lineup and that’s going to happen, but we have to just keep grinding it. They’ll learn at some point in their careers.”

YANKEES 4, ATHLETICS 3: A.J. Burnett bounced back from an awful August by pitching six effective innings as host New York won its fifth straight. The Yankees held their one-game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East.

Burnett (10-12) went 0-4 in five starts since his previous win. Against the A’s, he gave up three runs and struck out eight.

RAYS 2, BLUE JAYS 1: Evan Longoria snapped an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single, leading Tampa Bay to a home win for David Price’s club-record 16th victory.

Price (16-6) gave up a solo homer to John Buck, a double and two infield singles over eight innings. The 25-year-old left-hander walked two and struck out seven.

RED SOX 9, ORIOLES 6: Marco Scutaro and Adrian Beltre homered in a six-run seventh as Boston won in Baltimore to back Jon Lester, who improved to 13-0 lifetime against Baltimore.

Lester (15-8) gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out 10 and walked two.

ANGELS 4, MARINERS 2: Hideki Matsui hit a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh inning to lead as visiting Los Angeles.

RANGERS 4, ROYALS 3: Rookie Mitch Moreland homered as visiting Texas increased its division lead to 9 1/2 games over Oakland.