American League
Erubiel Durazo hit a three-run homer and Eric Chavez also connected for the Oakland Athletics, who completed a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 9-4 victory on Thursday.
PHOTO: AFP
Barry Zito (10-9) won for the third time in four starts, and the AL West-leading A's earned their ninth win in 10 games. Scott Hatteberg added a three-run double for Oakland, which swept the season series 7-0.
PHOTO: AP
The Orioles have lost 10 straight overall, their longest skid since ending the 2002 season with 12 losses. All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada, who left Oakland to sign with Baltimore during the offseason, went 1-for-15 in the series.
Daniel Cabrera (9-7) allowed five runs, four hits and five walks in 2 2-3 innings.
Yankees 7, Blue Jays 4
In Toronto, Alex Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the ninth off Jason Frasor (4-4) as the Yankees overcame a 4-0 deficit and remained 5 1/2 games ahead of second-place Boston in the AL East. New York has won seven times this year in games it trailed by four runs or more.
Rodriguez entered the at-bat hitting just .197 (23-for-117) with runners in scoring position. He grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the fifth, falling to 0-for-10 with the bases full this season.
C.J. Nitkwoski (1-1) got two outs in the eighth for his first win with the Yankees. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his major league-leading 44th save.
Red Sox 4, Tigers 1
In Boston, Bronson Arroyo (7-9) allowed only an unearned run and six hits in 7 1-3 innings, and Boston won for the ninth time in 10 games, improving to a season-best 20 games over .500 at 73-53. Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his 24th save, completing a six-hitter.
Jason Johnson (8-12) gave up three runs -- two earned -- and nine hits in five innings.
Boston scored in the first inning on David Ortiz's RBI double and took the lead for good at 2-1 on Dave Roberts' sacrifice fly in the fourth.
White Sox 14, Indians 9
In Cleveland, Carl Everett homered and drove in four runs, sending Cleveland to its 10th loss in 11 games.
Ben Davis hit a two-run homer and Juan Uribe a solo shot for Chicago, which won for just the second time in eight games and tied the Indians for second in the AL Central. Paul Konerko had three hits and three RBIs.
Coco Crisp, Ben Broussard and Josh Phelps hit solo homers and Ronnie Belliard a two-run shot for Cleveland.
Neal Cotts (2-3) gave up two runs in 2 2-3 innings. Chad Durbin (5-6) trailed 4-0 after 15 pitches.
Royals 7, Mariners 3
In Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki homered for his 200th hit of the season, but Abraham Nunez hit his second grand slam in two weeks to lead Kansas City over Seattle.
Suzuki became the first player to reach 200 hits in each of his first four major league seasons when he sent the first pitch from reliever Jeremy Affeldt over the right-center fence in the ninth inning.
The 2001 AL MVP has a shot at breaking the major league record of 257 hits set by George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns in 1920. Suzuki, who played nine seasons in Japan before coming to Seattle, had 242 hits in 2001, 208 in 2002 and 212 last season.
He finished 1-for-5 and leads the AL with a .364 batting average. He went 0-for-11 after getting his 199th hit Tuesday night against Tampa Bay.
The Mariners dropped their fourth straight and sixth in seven games.
Coming off a 21-6 loss Wednesday night in Anaheim, the Royals got a solid start from Brian Anderson (3-11) in the opener of a five-game series between the two worst teams in the AL.
Kansas City ended a three-game skid, jumping on Jamie Moyer (6-9) for a 4-0 lead in the first. Moyer lost his seventh straight decision since June 18 and gave up his AL-high 35th homer, tying a team record.
Rangers 8, Twins 3
In Texas, Park Chan-ho (3-4) allowed two runs and four hits over six innings in his return from the disabled list, his first win since May 12 against Tampa Bay.
Hank Blalock homered for the fifth time in six games. He and Alfonso Soriano each had three RBIs for the Rangers, who are 2{ games behind first-place Oakland in the AL West. Texas (71-55) also remained two games behind Boston in the wild-card race and matched its 2003 wins total.
Terry Mulholland (4-7) allowed seven runs and nine hits in 3 2-3 innings for the Twins, who lead the AL Central by eight games.
National League
Sammy Sosa and Aramis Ramirez hit consecutive homers in a five-run third inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros 8-3 for their fifth straight win on Thursday.
Mark Prior (4-3) needed 116 pitches to get through six innings, but got his first win in three weeks. He gave up seven hits.
Leading the NL wild-card race, the Cubs won for the ninth time in 12 games. The loss was just the third in 11 games for the Astros, who fell seven games behind the Cubs.
Nomar Garciaparra went 2-for-5 with an RBI while wife Mia Hamm played for the US women's soccer team in its 2-1 win over Brazil in the gold-medal game of the Athens Olympics.
Carlos Beltran homered for the fourth straight game, and Sosa's 568th career homer was a three-run shot that landed just inside the right-field foul pole to give the Cubs a 4-2 lead.
Brandon Backe (1-2), who five days earlier shut out the Cubs for seven innings in his first major league start, gave up seven runs and nine hits in three-plus innings.
Padres 10, Mets 3
At New York, Adam Eaton shut down New York through seven innings to win his seventh straight road start, and the San Diego Padres completed a four-game sweep of the Mets.
It was the fifth straight loss for the Mets, who never held a lead during the series and were outscored 26-8, with half their runs coming in the ninth inning. New York managed just 22 hits in the four games.
Eaton (9-11) retired 19 of his last 21 batters for San Diego, which began the day two games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL wild-card race. He allowed just two hits over seven innings.
Steve Trachsel (10-11) retired his first 12 hitters until Phil Nevin opened the fifth inning with a double, and Kahlil Greene hit a two-run double to left-center for a 2-0 lead.
Park Chan-ho will come off the disabled list on Thursday and make his first start for the Texas Rangers since May 19.
Park (2-4, 5.80 ERA), who has spent more time hurt than pitching since signing a US$65 million, five-year contract with the Rangers before the 2002 season, has been on the disabled list with a strained lower back. The South Korean right-hander will start the finale of a four-game series against AL Central-leading Minnesota.
"I feel great. I haven't really been off. I've been pitching in minor league games," Park said this week. "I want to pitch hard and to win, just relax and pitch like it's any other game. My back is pretty good."
In 10 rehab starts in the minors, Park was 1-5 with a 4.01 ERA. His last was on Friday, when he gave up four runs on six hits over 6 1-3 innings for Triple-A Oklahoma against Memphis.
Getting squirrelly
This squirrelly newcomer caused quite a stir in the third inning.
A brown squirrel ran onto Jacobs Field Wednesday night and ran circles around the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.
After romping through the outfield, it dashed toward the infield to the delight of the cheering crowd. The squirrel then ran between Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and shortstop Derek Jeter, who stood watching the critter.
After a brief delay, play continued when the squirrel ran out and settled down in center field. Tthe squirrel was still out there in the fifth inning.
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