Toronto Blue Jays’ Mike Bordick extends his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games.
NEW YORK – Once the duel between fortysomethings Roger Clemens and Jamie Moyer dissolved, the Seattle Mariners walked off with a win.
John Olerud drew a bases-loaded walk from Antonio Osuna that broke an eighth-inning tie and the Mariners roughed up New York’s struggling relievers, beating the Yankees 8-6 Sunday.
Bret Boone, Randy Winn and Ichiro Suzuki got the big hits after Seattle chased Clemens in a five-run seventh that made it 6-4.
After the Yankees tied it against Arthur Rhodes in the bottom half, Olerud took four straight balls from Osuna (2-4) with two outs the next inning.
A crowd of 54,828 booed as Jesse Orosco, Jeff Nelson and Osuna blew it in the late innings. Seattle added an insurance run in the ninth off Chris Hammond, and took two of three in the series between AL division leaders.
Rangers 5, Blue Jays 4
TORONTO – Alex Rodriguez homered for the seventh time in the past 10 games and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 on Sunday.
Rodriguez’s recent tear started a day after he indicated he was so frustrated by losing that he would consider a trade.
The All-Star shortstop hit his 31st homer of the season, and his 20th of his career at SkyDome, surpassing Manny Ramirez for the most by a visiting player.
Todd Greene homered and Rafael Palmeiro hit an RBI triple for the Rangers, who have won eight of 11 since Rodriguez’s comment.
Toronto’s Mike Bordick extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games with a single in the first. He went 2-for-5 and is 27-for-69 (.391) during that stretch.
Indians 3, Angels 1
CLEVELAND – Rookie Jody Gerut drove in two runs, and C.C. Sabathia pitched out of trouble early as the Cleveland Indians defeated the reeling Anaheim Angels 3-1 Sunday.
Anaheim lost for the sixth time in seven games, fell to 5-20 since the All-Star break and had another key player from last year’s championship team injured.
Cleveland won its third in a row as Sabathia (10-7) allowed one run and four hits over 5 2-3 innings, twice getting out of early jams. The left-hander walked four, struck out seven and improved to 2-4 over his last six starts.
White Sox 5, Athletics 1
CHICAGO – Esteban Loaiza allowed four hits over eight innings and Paul Konerko homered as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-1 Sunday.
The White Sox have won 17 of their last 22 games and remain a half game behind Kansas City in the AL West.
Loaiza (15-5) was impressive, outdueling rookie Rich Harden. He retired 17 of 18 batters between the second and seventh inning before giving up a double to Scott Hatteberg.
Royals 7, Devil Rays 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Julius Matos homered and drove in three runs as the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-3 Sunday.
Matos had a two-run single during the Royals’ five-run first inning and hit his second homer of the season in the fourth. Kansas City has won two straight following a four-game losing streak.
Runelvys Hernandez (7-4) gave up three runs and five hits over seven innings for the Royals. Jeremy Affeldt pitched a scoreless eighth and Al Levine worked a perfect ninth to finish it.
Tampa Bay pitcher Jesus Colome and Kansas City’s Aaron Guiel were ejected in the ninth after Colome’s first pitch went behind the right fielder’s back.
Twins 4, Tigers 3
DETROIT – Corey Koskie and Dustan Mohr each drove in a pair of first-inning runs, helping the Minnesota Twins to another win over the Detroit Tigers 4-3 Sunday.
The win was Minnesota’s 20th in their last 21 games against Detroit, including an 11-1 record this year. The Tigers are now 5-18 since the All-Star break and a season-worst 55 games under .500.
Kenny Rogers (9-6) allowed three runs on six hits and a walk in seven innings. He struck out seven. J.C. Romero pitched the eighth and Eddie Guardado worked the ninth for his 27th save in 30 tries.
Mohr made a sliding catch of Craig Monroe’s blooper in right field for the second out in the ninth to helped preserve the win.
Nate Cornejo (5-11) lost his third straight start. He pitched his first complete game since April 27, 2002, giving up four runs on nine hits and three walks.
Minnesota scored four times in the first, two before the first out.
Shannon Stewart led off with a single and Denny Hocking walked before Doug Mientkiewicz bunt safely to load the bases.
Koskie lined a two-run double into the right-field corner, and after Cornejo retired the next two batters and intentionally walked A.J. Pierzynski to load the bases, Mohr grounded a two-run single into left field.
Detroit made it 4-2 in the fifth when Matt Walbeck homered over the shortened fence in left field – his first major league homer since July 29, 2000 – and Monroe made it a one-run game with a solo homer in the sixth.
Cornejo, meanwhile, settled down, and retired 15 straight batters between the second and seventh innings.
The Twins put two runners on in the eighth, but Cornejo got Mohr to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Ben Petrick robbed Chris Gomez of a homer in the ninth, leaping to grab the ball well above the fence in left field.
Notes: Tigers outfielder Bobby Higginson and bench coach Kirk Gibson were ejected by home-plate umpire Doug Eddings in the bottom of the first. After popping out, Higginson angrily threw his bat and was thrown out. Gibson was ejected for arguing from the dugout. … The Tigers held a press conference before the game to announce they had signed first-round draft pick RHP Kyle Sleeth. … Minnesota batted around in the final inning of Saturday’s game and the first inning of Sunday’s. … Cornejo’s only two complete games have come against Minnesota.
AP-ES-08-10-03 1603EDT
Send questions/comments to the editors.
