American LeagueThe Detroit Tigers set an American League record with their 118th loss, falling to the Kansas City Royals 12-6 Monday night as Raul Ibanez and Rondell White drove in three runs each.
Detroit (38-118) has lost 10 straight, one short of its season high, and 16 of its last 17. The Tigers must win five of their final six games to avoid tying the post-1900 major league record set by the 1962 New York Mets, who went 40-120.
White went 4-for-4, Carlos Beltran homered, and Joe Randa went 3-for-3 for the Royals, who trail AL Central-leading Minnesota by five games with six to play.
PHOTO: AFP
With its 82nd win, Kansas City ensured its first winning year since going 64-51 in the strike-shortened 1994 season.
Jeremy Affeldt (7-6), the second of four Royals pitchers, threw two scoreless innings.
Gary Knotts (3-8) gave up six runs, five hits and three walks in four-plus innings.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Red Sox 7, Orioles 5
In Boston, Manny Ramirez, Trot Nixon and David Ortiz homered to lead the Red Sox over Baltimore and protect Boston's lead in the AL wild-card race.
Boston moved three games ahead of Seattle in the wild-card standings. The Mariners played in Anaheim later Monday.
Jeff Suppan (3-3) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.
Jason Johnson (10-9) gave up six runs -- five earned -- and seven hits before leaving four batters into the sixth. He has not won in eight starts since Aug. 10.
Byung-Hyun Kim pitched a perfect ninth for his 16th save in 19 chances.
Luis Matos and Jack Cust homered for the Orioles.
White Sox 6, Yankees 3
In Chicago, Magglio Ordonez hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning as Chicago beat New York and prevented the Yankees from clinching the AL East.
Ordonez's 29th homer came off Jeff Weaver as the White Sox kept their faint hopes alive in the AL Central. Chicago is tied for second with Kansas City, five games behind Minnesota with six left.
Roberto Alomar singled with one out in the 10th off Gabe White (2-1), and Weaver relieved and walked Frank Thomas. Ordonez then homered to deep left for his first career game-ending homer.
Alfonso Soriano homered twice for the Yankees, who already are guaranteed no worse than the AL wild-card berth. Their division lead was cut to five games over second-place Boston.
Soriano set a major league record for leadoff homers when he hit his 13th of the season on Bartolo Colon's second pitch of the game. He broke Brady Anderson's mark of 12 set in 1996 with Baltimore.
Tom Gordon (7-6) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win.
David Wells was denied his 200th career win.
Devil Rays 5, Blue Jays 2
In Toronto, Roy Halladay lost a chance at his 22nd win when he was ejected, and Tampa Bay's Rob Bell held Toronto hitless for six innings.
Julio Lugo homered off Halladay for the Devil Rays, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Chad Gaudin, Joe Kennedy and Lance Carter followed Bell and finished the four-hitter.
Halladay (21-7) had not allowed an earned run in a club-record 41 innings before Lugo connected leading off the sixth. The Toronto ace had thrown four consecutive complete games -- he came in 4-0 with a 0.24 ERA in September.
Halladay was tossed in the sixth for hitting Rocco Baldelli with a pitch. The right-hander also plunked Damian Rolls in the fourth. Umpires warned both teams about hitting batters before the game.
Halladay allowed three runs on five hits in five-plus innings. He struck out eight and walked none.
National League
Derrek Lee homered and drove in four runs, Mark Redman pitched seven strong innings and the Florida Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3 Monday to extend their lead in the NL wild-card race.
The Marlins are a game ahead of Philadelphia, entering a crucial three-game series with the Phillies on Tuesday.
"It's good to be a game up," Lee said. ``That's what we were shooting for coming into this game.''
Actually, the Marlins figured they would be one game behind, but Philadelphia lost two of three last weekend to Cincinnati. The Phillies were off Monday.
"We were expecting the Phillies to sweep," Redman said. "To be up a game on them going into this series is a real pick-me-up for the team."
The game in Atlanta was played on a damp, dreary night before an announced crowd of 17,345 -- the smallest in Turner Field history.
The game began in a mist that quickly developed into rain. Florida loaded the bases against Mike Hampton (14-8) without getting a ball out of the infield. Luis Castillo led off with a walk before Juan Pierre and Ivan Rodriguez reached on consecutive bunt singles.
Lee lined a run-scoring single to left, giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead and leaving the bases loaded. But with a 1-0 count on Miguel Cabrera, umpires called for the tarp to begin a 53-minute rain delay.
When play resumed, Cabrera took another ball, then lined a two-run single to right.
Florida doubled its lead in the second. Castillo and Pierre singled -- the latter on a perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line -- before Lee came up with two outs.
Hampton left a 2-0 fastball over the plate and Lee launched his 31st homer deep into the left-field seats, giving the Marlins a 6-0 lead. He has 88 RBIs, surpassing his previous career high of 86 last season.
The big lead made things easy for Redman (14-9), who retired the first 12 Atlanta hitters before Chipper Jones led off the fifth with a single.
The Braves finally scored off Redman in the sixth when Gary Sheffield hit his 38th homer, a three-run shot. He has 127 RBIs, tying the Atlanta record set by Hank Aaron in 1966 -- the team's first season after moving from Milwaukee.
Hampton is 9-3 since the All-Star break, though he hasn't had much success against the Marlins. In four starts this season, he was 0-2 with an 8.22 ERA.
Giants 6, Astros 3
At Houston, pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz and Ray Durham hit consecutive homers in the ninth off Billy Wagner (1-4) as Houston lost its third straight, giving the Cubs a share of first place in the NL Central for the first time since Sept. 10.
Marquis Grissom and Andres Galarraga also homered for the NL West-champion Giants. Barry Bonds went 0-for-4, ending his streak of reaching base in 58 straight games.
Joe Nathan (11-4) pitched a perfect eighth, and Tim Worrell got three outs for his 37th save.
Padres 9, Dodgers 5
At San Diego, Phil Nevin hit a three-run homer to help the Padres drop the Dodgers farther back in the wild-card race.
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