Randy Johnson allowed home runs to three straight batters for the first time in his major league career and four in all during the fourth inning, and the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Yankees 6-2 Sunday to stop a seven-game losing streak.
Giving a 1-0 lead, the Big Unit allowed solo homers to Tadahito Iguchi, Aaron Rowand and Paul Konerko with one out in the fourth, gave up consecutive singles to Jermaine Dye and Juan Uribe, then allowed a three-run homer to Chris Widger. The four homers were in a 16-pitch span.
Johnson (11-8) has allowed 29 homers, the most in the American League and second in the major leagues behind Cincinnati's Eric Milton (35). The most Johnson has allowed in a season was 30 with Arizona in 1999.
PHOTO: AFP
The Big Unit, who missed a start earlier this month because of a bad back, allowed 10 hits, struck out eight and walked none in his fourth complete game this season. His ERA rose to 4.34.
Former Yankee Jose Contreras (8-7) allowed two runs -- one earned -- and 11 hits, and matched his career high by pitching eight innings. He struck out five and walked none.
Red Sox 5, Angels 1
At Anaheim, California, Edgar Renteria hit a three-run homer and Manny Ramirez added a two-run shot as Boston did all its scoring in the eighth inning and beat Los Angeles for a four-game split of a series between division leaders.
Mike Timlin (5-2) pitched two hitless innings for the victory, which extended Boston's AL East lead over the New York Yankees to four games. Curt Schilling allowed three hits in the ninth inning against the AL West leaders, including Steve Finley's RBI double.
Schilling, who has been pitching out of the bullpen since coming off the disabled list after the All-Star break, is to rejoin the starting rotation Thursday.
Paul Byrd (9-8) remained winless in six starts.
Indians 5, Orioles 1
At Cleveland, Travis Hafner drove in four runs to help C.C. Sabathia win his fourth straight start, and Cleveland completed a three-game sweep of Baltimore.
The Indians, who began play 1 games behind Oakland in the AL wild-card race, won their fourth straight and fifth in six games to move a season-high 12 games over .500.
The skidding Orioles fell to 13-23 since the All-Star break and lost for the 26th time in 36 road games -- despite opening a six-game trip with a three-game sweep in Oakland. Bruce Chen (10-7) took the loss.
Sabathia (10-9) improved to 4-0 in August after losing his last five starts in July. The left-hander gave up one run and three hits in eight innings, punctuating his performance by getting Eric Byrnes to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Twins 8, Mariners 3
At Minneapolis, Lew Ford homered for the third straight game, hitting a three-run drive and helping Minnesota over Seattle.
Matthew LeCroy drove in two runs with two hits, Joe Mauer reached base five times and Shannon Stewart had three hits for Minnesota, which won for the ninth time in 11 games.
Twins starter Brad Radke (8-10), enjoying plenty of run support in August, surrendered only four hits in seven solid innings.
Greg Dobbs and Raul Ibanez each homered for the Mariners, who staked starter Joel Pineiro to a 3-1 lead that he quickly lost in a six-run fifth inning. Pineiro (5-8) gave up 13 hits and eight runs with one walk while striking out two over 5 2-3 innings.
Devil Rays 6, Rangers 3
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Kenny Rogers lost his third straight start since serving a 13-game suspension and Jonny Gomes homered and drove in two runs as Tampa Bay completed a three-game sweep of Texas.
Rogers (11-7) gave up six runs and seven hits in six innings. He has allowed 17 runs and 20 hits in 18 innings over his past three outings since returning from his penalty for shoving two cameramen.
Texas completed a season-high 13-game road trip with only one win. It's the most losses on any road trip in franchise history. Gary Matthews Jr. and Rod Barajas homered for the Rangers, who lead the majors with 203 homers.
Casey Fossum (7-10) allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings. Danys Baez, the fourth Devil Rays reliever, pitched the ninth for his 29th save.
Tampa Bay has won five straight and is 23-12 since the All-Star break.
Tigers 17, Blue Jays 6
At Detroit, Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer in a seven-run first inning that started the Tigers to their highest-scoring game in more than a year, and Detroit extended its winning streak to four.
Craig Monroe hit a two-run homer in the second and Curtis Granderson had a three-run shot in the sixth.
It was the most runs for the Tigers since a 17-3 win over Cleveland on April 23, 2004. Detroit, which has won seven of eight, won three straight over Toronto for its first sweep since taking three games from San Diego from June 14-16.
Sean Douglass (5-2), who appeared in 14 games for Toronto last season, gave up four runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Dustin McGowan (1-1) allowed 12 runs -- 10 earned -- nine hits, three hit batters and two walked in 4 1-3 innings. His ERA rose from 5.95 to 8.63.
Toronto dropped to 4-5 on a 13-game trip.
Andy Pettitte won for the eighth time in his last 10 decisions, leading the Houston Astros over the Milwaukee Brewers 8-3 Sunday in the finale of a disappointing homestand.
Pettitte (11-9) allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings, improving to 8-2 in his last 12 starts.
Chris Burke hit a three-run homer and doubled twice. Houston, which went 6-7 on the homestand, remained a half-game behind Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race. The Astros have the most home wins in the major leagues, going 42-22 in Houston.
Victor Santos (4-12) gave up seven runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings.
Marlins 7, Dodgers 1
At Miami, Jason Vargas (4-1) pitched a six-hitter for his first major league complete game and hit a two-run single for his first major league RBIs as Florida won for the fourth time in five games.
Vargas struck out seven, tying his season high, and walked one in his fifth major league start.
Derek Lowe (8-12) allowed six runs and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings, and is 0-2 in three starts since beating Pittsburgh on Aug. 5.
Nationals 7, Mets 4
At New York, Ryan Church doubled and singled in a six-run first inning, and Cristian Guzman doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Nationals, who avoided a three-game sweep
Esteban Loaiza (8-9) was handed a 6-0 lead before he threw a pitch.
Washington got seven straight hits with two outs in the first off Kris Benson (9-5), who managed only two outs in the shortest outing of his seven-year career, allowing eight hits.
Mike Jacobs hit a three-run homer in his first major league at-bat, becoming the fourth Mets player to accomplish the feat. The Mets lost for only fifth time in 19 home games.
Reds 13, Diamondbacks 6
At Cincinnati, Wily Mo Pena hit a pair of three-run homers to set a career high with six RBIs.
Pena and Edwin Encarnacion hit three-run homers off Brad Halsey (8-10) in a seven-run fourth, and Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Sean Casey also homered for Cincinnati.
Eric Milton (7-12) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.
Halsey (8-10) gave up seven runs and eight hits in four innings, losing his third straight start after going 4-0 in his previous six.
Phillies 4, Pirates 3
In Philadelphia, Bobby Abreu hit a tiebreaking double off Rick White (3-6) in the seventh inning that scored Jason Michaels, who made a crashing, sweeping slide around catcher Ryan Doumit.
Ryan Madson (6-4) struck out two and allowed no hits in 1 2-3 scoreless innings, and Billy Wagner worked the ninth for his 30th save.
Giants 4, Cardinals 2
At St. Louis, Jason Schmidt (10-6) allowed four hits in seven shutout innings to win his third straight decision, and San Francisco capitalized on four errors.
Scott Seabol's bases-empty, two-out error at third base in the fourth led to three runs, hours after the Cardinals learned that All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen will have shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season.
Armando Benitez pitched the ninth and allowed pinch-hitter Albert Pujols' RBI single before striking out So Taguchi with runners on first and second to earn his fifth save, and first since April 23. It was Benitez's second appearance after he missed nearly four months with an injured right hamstring.
Jeff Suppan (12-9) allowed four runs -- one earned -- and seven hits in six innings.
Rockies 9, Cubs 7
At Denver, Matt Holliday and Dustan Mohr hit two-run homers, and Garrett Atkins had three hits, including a solo homer. Pinch-hitter Jorge Piedra added a three-run drive in the eighth.
Sunny Kim (2-2) threw two scoreless innings to earn his first win for Colorado.
Greg Maddux (10-10) allowed six runs and eight hits -- including three homers -- in six innings and failed to get his 316th win. He lost for the first time in six career decisions at Coors Field.
Braves 6, Padres 2
At Atlanta, Atlanta scored five runs in the eighth inning, helped by two San Diego errors, and rallied to beat the Padres and salvage a win in the three-game series.
The Padres took a 2-1 lead on pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney's two-run single off John Smoltz in the seventh inning, but Akinori Otsuka (1-5) and the San Diego bullpen, hurt by the errors, couldn't hold the lead in the eighth.
Jorge Sosa (8-2) earned the win in relief.
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