American League
Gil Meche pitched two-hit ball for eight innings, and the Seattle Mariners snapped Andy Pettitte's eight-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday.
Seattle scratched out runs on Mike Cameron's RBI groundout and Bret Boone's sacrifice fly to end a three-game skid. The top two teams in the AL have split the first two games of a three-game set -- Roger Clemens faces Jamie Moyer on Sunday in a matchup of two aces in their 40s.
PHOTO: AFP
Nick Johnson homered in the fourth for the Yankees. Hideki Matsui's fifth-inning single was the only other hit off Meche (13-7), who faced just one more than the minimum and retired his final 10 batters.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa worked a one-hit ninth for his ninth save, and hasn't allowed a run in his last 24 innings.
Pettitte (13-7) threw a five-hitter for his first complete game of the year and the 23rd of his career.
Red Sox 6, Orioles 4
In Boston, Kevin Millar hit the 10,000th homer at Fenway Park, a two-run shot in the eighth inning, and Boston rebounded from a doubleheader sweep by rallying to beat Baltimore.
Fenway Park, which opened in 1912, joined Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium and the since-demolished Tiger Stadium as the only ballparks to have had at least 10,000 homers hit there.
Manny Ramirez hit a solo homer for Boston, his 100th in a Red Sox uniform to become the fastest player in team history to reach that plateau. It was his 1,388th at-bat with Boston. Jimmy Foxx did it in 1,390 at-bats.
Blue Jays 5, Rangers 3
In Toronto, Kelvim Escobar pitched eight sharp innings and Reed Johnson hit a go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth as Toronto beat Texas.
Eric Hinske doubled off Aaron Fultz (1-3) in the eighth before Fultz intentionally walked Bobby Kielty. Rosman Garcia struck out pinch-hitter Dave Berg before Johnson hit his two-out single to right.
Mike Bordick followed with an RBI single, which extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games and gave Toronto a 4-2 lead. Vernon Wells then reached on infield single to load the bases.
Reliever Brian Shouse entered and hit Carlos Delgado with a pitch to make it 5-2.
Escobar (8-6) allowed just Ramon Nivar's single to center in the third, Einar Diaz's single in the fifth and Nivar's single in the eighth.
Athletics 7, White Sox 2
In Chicago, Ramon Hernandez homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs as Oakland defeated Chicago.
With the Kansas City Royals' 6-2 win over Tampa Bay, Chicago fell out of the top spot of the AL Central, which they held for a day. The White Sox are a half-game behind the Royals.
Chad Bradford (6-3), who spent part of three seasons with the White Sox before being traded for Miguel Olivo in December of 2000, pitched 2 1-3 scoreless innings of relief for the win.
White Sox reliever Billy Koch allowed Hernandez's 16th homer in the ninth. In his last 11 outings since July 4, the day he was replaced as the White Sox's closer, Koch has allowed 11 earned runs in 11 innings.
Royals 6, Devil Rays 2
In St. Petersburg, Florida, rookie Jimmy Gobble allowed one run in his second major league start, and Carlos Beltran homered and drove in three runs as Kansas City snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Tampa Bay.
Kansas City, which won for just the fourth time in 12 games, moved a half-game ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. The White Sox lost to Oakland.
Gobble (2-0) gave up seven hits, including Damian Rolls' homer in the seventh, and had three strikeouts and no walks in 6 1-3 innings. The left-hander has allowed just one run in 12 1-3 innings in the majors.
Beltran hit his 100th career homer, a two-run shot off reliever Lance Carter in the eighth. He also had a run-scoring single.
National League
Pat Burrell hit a game-tying homer in the eighth inning and a two-run shot in the 10th, giving the Philadelphia Phillies an 8-6 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.
Burrell and Jimmy Rollins -- two Bay area natives -- homered in the 10th off Jim Brower (7-4) as Philadelphia rallied from a late three-run deficit to snap a three-game losing streak. The Phillies handed San Francisco just its third loss in the last 18 games at Pacific Bell Park.
Jim Thome hit an early 441-foot homer for the Phillies, while Tomas Perez, Placido Polanco and Bobby Abreu also had run-scoring hits. Turk Wendell (3-2) pitched two scoreless for the victory.
Cody Ransom hit his first major league homer and Neifi Perez had a two-run double for the Giants.
Cardinals 3, Braves 1
In St. Louis, Garrett Stephenson dominated into the eighth inning and Eduardo Perez had two hits and an RBI as St. Louis beat Atlanta.
The Cardinals ended an eight-game losing streak against the Braves that extended to May 2002. Albert Pujols got an infield hit in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 23 games. He leads the majors with a .370 average and is 35-for-90 (.389) during the streak.
Stephenson (6-11) allowed a run on six hits in 7 1-3 innings with one strikeout and two walks in his 100th career start. His career record in August improved to 10-1. Jason Isringhausen picked up his 10th save in 11 chances.
Shane Reynolds (9-6) took the loss for Atlanta.
Expos 3, Astros 1
In Houston, Livan Hernandez threw a six-hitter for his fifth complete game of the season as Montreal snapped an eight-game road losing streak.
Hernandez (12-7), who won for the sixth time in his last seven decisions, tied Philadelphia's Kevin Millwood and San Francisco's Jason Schmidt for the most complete games in the NL. He threw 126 pitches, struck out nine and walked two in his second complete game in his last three games, and 28th of his career.
Jared Hernandez (1-1) allowed three runs and nine hits in 4 2-3 innings in the loss. He struck out four and walked three.
Marlins 7, Brewers 1
In Milwaukee, Mark Redman dominated the Brewers for the third time this season as Florida beat Milwaukee.
Redman (10-5) allowed one run on six hits in eight innings, including just two harmless singles after the second inning. He walked one and struck out seven in sending the Brewers to their fourth straight loss.
In his second major league start, David Manning (0-2) surrendered six earned runs on seven hits in 2 2-3 innings. He nearly didn't make it out of the first, when he allowed four earned runs on four hits and needed 36 pitches to retire the side.
Pirates 10, Rockies 4
In Denver, Reggie Sanders and Brian Giles each hit two-run home runs to help Jeff D'Amico win for the first time in six starts for Pittsburgh. Sanders hit his 22nd homer in the fourth inning and went 2-for-5, and Giles hit his 14th during the Pirates' five-run sixth.
D'Amico (7-11), rocked for eight runs in five innings last Sunday in a 16-4 loss to the Rockies, allowed four runs -- three earned -- and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. He had lost his last three decisions since winning July 6 against Houston.
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