The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Lee Mazzilli on Thursday with the team mired in an eight-game losing streak and still reeling from Rafael Palmeiro's positive drug test.
The Orioles made bench coach Sam Perlozzo the interim manager for the remainder of the major league baseball season.
The announcement was made just two hours before Baltimore's game at Anaheim.
PHOTO: AP
Coming into Thursday, the Orioles were 51-56 and 10 games behind first-place Boston in the American League East division.
The Orioles finished 78-84 in 2004, Mazzilli's first season, and this year appeared on course to ending a run of seven straight losing seasons.
Baltimore got off a solid start and on April 23 gained sole possession of first place in the AL East, ahead of the defending champion Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.
The Orioles stayed on top through June 23. Baltimore was in second place, just one game back, on July 15 -- the day Palmeiro became the fourth player in MLB history to collect at least 3,000 hits and 500 homers.
But Baltimore then went on the skid that cost Mazzilli his job. From July 16 through Wednesday, the Orioles lost 16 of 18 -- including their last eight in a row -- to fall into fourth place, 10 games behind division-leading Boston.
Matt Clement struggled in his first start since getting hit in the head by a line drive, but Jason Varitek's grand slam highlighted an eight-run fourth inning and helped the Boston Red Sox rally for their eighth straight win, an 11-9 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.
Edgar Renteria added a three-run double during Boston's biggest inning of the season as the Red Sox erased a 5-0 deficit. The Sox needed just two hits to score the eight runs, thanks to five walks.
"Let's talk about how much courage Matt had to go out there and take that ball," catcher Varitek said when asked about his grand slam.
Clement (11-3) was hit behind his right ear by Carl Crawford's liner at Tampa Bay nine days earlier. He was wild in his return, issuing four walks in five innings, but still earned the win. He allowed six runs on five hits and left with a 9-5 lead.
"I didn't know how I was going to react. I didn't feel any lingering effects," Clement said. "Regardless of the fact that I was able to get a win out of the situation, it's just the fact that I was [able] to go through the five innings and get to the 100-pitch count."
D.J. Carrasco allowed just one hit in 3 2-3 innings for Kansas City, but left after walking his seventh batter, Johnny Damon, to load the bases in the fourth. Leo Nunez (2-2) then gave up Renteria's double, walked the next two batters and allowed Varitek's grand slam on a 2-0 pitch. Varitek also doubled in Boston's last run in the eighth.
Curt Schilling allowed Mike Sweeney's 17th homer of the year leading off the ninth but picked up his eighth save in nine chances.
The Red Sox ended their homestand at 6-0, the first time in 17 years they were unbeaten in a homestand of at least six games. The Royals finished their road trip at 0-7.
White Sox 5, Blue Jays 4
At Chicago, Tadahito Iguchi hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, and the White Sox avoided a three-game sweep.
After the Blue Jays tied the score in the eighth on Russ Adams' RBI double off Damaso Marte, Iguchi lifted an 0-1 pitch from Justin Speier (1-2) over the right-field fence leading off the bottom half.
Iguchi's ninth home run made a winner of Luis Vizcaino (5-5), who got three straight outs in the eighth.
Dustin Hermanson worked the ninth for his 26th save in 27 opportunities.
White Sox starter Jose Contreras did not allow an earned run in five innings. Toronto's Dustin McGowan, making his second major league start, gave up four runs and four hits in five innings.
Orioles 4, Angels 1
At Anaheim, California, Sammy Sosa picked up a listless Baltimore club still stunned by the sudden firing of manager Lee Mazzilli, hitting a two-run homer to help beat Los Angeles and snap a season-worst eight-game losing streak.
Sam Perlozzo won his first game after being promoted from bench coach to interim manager.
Rodrigo Lopez (10-6) threw 94 pitches in five innings, allowing a run and two hits while striking out five and walking two on three days' rest. B.J. Ryan finished for his 23rd save in 27 attempts.
Rookie Ervin Santana (6-5) allowed four runs -- two earned -- and four hits over seven innings while tying his career high with seven strikeouts.
Yankees 4, Indians 3
At Cleveland, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi homered off Bob Wickman in the ninth inning, and New York avoided being swept in Cleveland for the first time since 1970.
The homers saved the Yankees from dropping further back in the American League East and wild-card standings.
Giambi also connected in the fifth for New York, which stayed 4 1/2 games behind division-leading Boston.
Rodriguez, who struck out in his first two at-bats and grounded into an inning-ending double play, tied it 3-3 with his 30th homer -- a long shot into the left-field bleachers off Wickman (0-3).
Giambi, who hit 14 homers in July, has five multihomer games this season -- all since July 4.
Tom Gordon (5-4), who allowed the Indians to take a 3-2 lead in the seventh on Travis Hafner's RBI single, got the win.
Bobby Abreu's grand slam snapped a 25-game homerless skid, and Todd Pratt and Chase Utley added solo shots, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-4 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
Abreu was mired in a monthlong slump, hitting just .217 since winning the Home Run Derby during the All-Star break in Detroit.
His first inning grand slam off Mark Prior (7-4) was his 19th homer off the year and first since another grand slam against Pittsburgh on July 4. The slam helped the Phillies win the final two games of the three-game series and remain in the chase for the National League wild-card lead.
Brett Myers (10-5) won his third straight start and fourth straight decision, getting through 6 1-3 decent innings on a steamy, sticky afternoon.
He reached double digits in victories for the third straight season and is just one win shy from matching last year's total. Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his 25th save.
Brewers 12, Mets 9
At New York, Geoff Jenkins went 5-for-5 and drove in the tying run, keying a five-run rally in the ninth inning that carried Milwaukee past New York.
Pinch-hitter Damian Miller drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single, and Wes Helms capped the outburst with a two-run double. Milwaukee roughed up six New York pitchers for 21 hits during a game that lasted 4 hours, 9 minutes in stifling humidity.
Mike Piazza homered and drove in five runs for the Mets. Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron also connected.
Roberto Hernandez (5-5) relieved with New York leading 9-7 in the ninth, and took the loss.
Julio Santana (3-5) worked the eighth for the win, and Derrick Turnbow got three outs for his 23rd save in 26 chances. Lyle Overbay and Russell Branyan each knocked in two runs, and Lee scored three times.
Padres 12, Pirates 7
At Pittsburgh, Brian Lawrence beat his brother-in-law for San Diego's first series victory since taking two of three from Colorado from July 8-10.
The Padres roughed up Pirates left-hander Mark Redman (5-12) -- Lawrence's brother-in-law -- for seven runs in 2 1-3 innings.
In a matchup of slumping pitchers who began the game with identical records and close family ties, Lawrence (6-11) lasted into the seventh inning to end his six-game losing streak and give the Padres only their third victory in 16 games.
The Padres found their offense in Pittsburgh after slumping for more than a month, scoring 31 runs in the series and at least eight runs in every game. Khalil Greene and Miguel Olivo each homered for the second consecutive game, giving the Padres five homers in two games after they went nine games and 320 at-bats without homering.
Giants 6, Rockies 4
At San Francisco, Lance Niekro broke out of a 0-for-13 slump with a tiebreaking, two-run double in the eighth inning, and San Francisco snapped a four-game losing streak.
Scott Munter (2-0) pitched the eighth for the win and Tyler Walker got his 19th save in 24 opportunities.
Dan Miceli (1-2) took the loss as the bullpen blew it for starter Jose Acevedo, who pitched six strong innings for the third straight start and retired 11 of his final 12 batters.
Nationals 7, Dodgers 0
At Washington, John Patterson struck out a career-high 13 in his first shutout, and Brad Wilkerson hit a grand slam to lead Washington past Los Angeles for the Nationals' first series victory in a month.
Patterson allowed four hits and no walks, facing just two batters over the minimum and never allowing a runner past second base.
And for a change, Patterson (5-3) got some run support. He has a 1.02 ERA with 54 strikeouts over his past six starts -- yet he's just 2-1 over that span.
Wilkerson hit Washington's first grand slam of the season.
The Chicago White Sox weren't shopping for a power hitter when they signed Tadahito Iguchi from Japan in January. They didn't expect him to hit 24 home runs, as he did last season for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. Still, they're happy to take the occasional long ball.
Iguchi led off the eighth inning on Thursday with a tiebreaking homer, and the White Sox avoided a three-game sweep with a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
"He was a great player in Japan," said center fielder Aaron Rowand, who hit a three-run homer in the first inning. "They don't always translate into great players over here, but a few of them have."
After going 2-for-3, Iguchi is 16-for-33 in his last nine games and is batting .290 for the season. His ninth home run came after Russ Adams tied the game with an RBI double off Damaso Marte in the top of the eighth.
Iguchi lifted an 0-1 pitch from Justin Speier (1-2) on the outside part of the plate over the right-field fence. The solo shot made a winner of Luis Vizcaino (5-5), who retired the final three batters in the top of the eighth.
"At first, I was hoping for a base hit or an extra-base hit," Iguchi said. "The final result was a home run. That's a good thing."
Speier thought the ball would land in right fielder Alex Rios' glove.
"I didn't know he had that much pop to right," Speier said.
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