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A's tighten wild-card battle

BOSTON -- Mark Mulder struggled early and Miguel Tejada's hitting streak ended at 24 games. Still, the Oakland Athletics kept winning.

Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer and Olmedo Saenz added a two-run shot to lead the A's to a 9-1 win over the Red Sox on Tuesday night, Oakland's fifth in six games.

Mulder allowed runners in five of six innings but benefited from poor clutch hitting by Boston, which stranded 10 against him. The left-hander is 11-2 in his past 14 starts.

"After the third inning I started to settle down, relax and not throw so hard," he said. "I might have hit a few guys and walked a few guys but I made my pitches when I had to."

Mulder struck out three, allowed four walks and five hits and hit Trot Nixon twice. But after Manny Ramirez's double gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first, the Red Sox left the bases loaded in the first and fourth.

"You can't let a pitcher like that off the hook," Boston's Brian Daubach said. "If we scored some runs early, it might have been different."

Tejada went 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly in the eighth and fell one game short of the Oakland record 25-game hitting streak set by Jason Giambi in 1997.

"I don't worry about that," Tejada said. "I don't play this game for myself. I knew one day it was going to stop and today was the day."

The 24-game streak was the second-longest in the majors this season, behind the 35-game streak of Florida's Luis Castillo. It was the longest in the AL since Gabe Kapler had a 28-game streak in 2000.

The A's, whose 45-22 record is the league's best since May 24, closed within one of the Red Sox in the wild-card race. Anaheim leads Boston by 11/2 and Oakland by 21/2.

Oakland was 20-26 on May 23 and trailed Seattle by 10 in the West.

"If you're going to go to the playoffs it doesn't matter how you start," Hernandez said. "It's how you finish."

ROYALS 6, YANKEES 2: Raul Ibanez went 4-for-5 with two RBIs to break his hitless streak at 15 at-bats, and visiting Kansas City pounded Mike Mussina for a career-worst 14 hits.

Royals leadoff hitter Chuck Knoblauch had two hits and sparked a three-run third in his first game at Yankee Stadium since leaving New York.

The Royals won their first meeting with the Yankees this season after going 0-6 last season.

BLUE JAYS 14, MARINERS 12: Rookie Orlando Hudson homered and had a career-high four hits as host Toronto built an 11-run lead, then hung on for its sixth win in eight games.

Hudson went 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs for the Blue Jays, who had 20 hits, their most since getting 20 at Minnesota on Aug. 13, 2000.

Shannon Stewart and Eric Hinske each went 4-for-5, and Stewart and Hinske hit consecutive triples in a six-run sixth.

ANGELS 11, WHITE SOX 2: Tim Salmon drove in five runs, four with a grand slam during a six-run fourth, for visiting Anaheim.

The Angels closed within 11/2 games of West-leading Seattle and moved 11/2 games in front of Boston in the wild-card race.

ORIOLES 9, TWINS 2: Luis Lopez's second career grand slam highlighted a six-run seventh, when host Baltimore sent 10 men to the plate.

TIGERS 8, RANGERS 2: Steve Sparks struck out eight in his third complete game of the season, and Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer as host Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak.

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