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AL: Oakland takes first game of shootout in the West

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jermaine Dye and Terrence Long homered as Tim Hudson and the Athletics won for the 23rd time in 24 games, beating the Angels 2-1 on Monday.

Garret Anderson homered for the Angels, who had their 10-game winning streak snapped -- one shy of the club record set in 1964.

The Athletics increased their lead to three games on the Angels in the West, while Anaheim remained four games ahead of Seattle in the wild-card race.

The game pitted two streaking pitchers from staffs with the two best ERAs in the AL.

Hudson retired the first 10 Angels on the way to winning his sixth consecutive decision. He allowed one run on six hits in 71/3 innings, struck out four and walked none.

Billy Koch got three outs in a row for his 39th save in 45 chances.

Kevin Appier gave up two runs on five hits in 62/3 innings. He struck out five and walked three to lose for the first time in seven starts since Aug. 2.

A-Rod belts two; re-sets HR mark for shortstops

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The records keeping coming for Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez hit two three-run homers, breaking his own major-league mark for shortstops with 53 home runs in a season as the Rangers beat the Mariners 12-7 on Monday.

While the Rangers head toward their third last-place finish in a row, Rodriguez maintained his focus, beating his one-time teammates as the Mariners attempt to stay in contention.

"We have a responsibility to the rest of the American League West to continue to play hard," Rodriguez said. "I have a lot of great friends over there, so it's tough to go against them, but at the same time it feels good to play well against them. We haven't played a lot of important games, but when you're playing against playoff contenders, it brings your game up a notch."

The Rangers homered in their 27th consecutive game, extending their big league mark.

Ichiro Suzuki and Desi Relaford led off with homers for the Mariners. But the Rangers rallied behind A-Rod and stopped Seattle's three-game winning streak, further damaging its wild-card chances.

Rodriguez hit 52 homers last year, setting the record for shortstops and the Rangers' home run mark.

Rodriguez matched those records in the sixth with a tiebreaking shot off Jeff Nelson.

"It's really humbling to be at the top of the list on a team that has such a history of great offense," said Rodriguez.

In the eighth, Rodriguez added another three-run shot and Rafael Palmeiro followed with his 40th off rookie Aaron Taylor. It was Palmeiro's 487th career home run.

Rodriguez has 10 multihomer games, one short of the major record held by Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa (1998).

TWINS 5, TIGERS 2: Dustan Mohr hit a run-scoring double and scored twice as host Minnesota ended its 20-inning scoreless streak.

After being shut out in consecutive games by Oakland left-handers Barry Zito and fellow lefty Mark Mulder, the Central leaders broke through against lefty Mike Maroth.

Jacque Jones drove in two runs as the Twins finished with nine hits, nearly matching their 10-hit output in the previous two games.

Rick Reed, the most consistent starter in Minnesota's rotation this year, gave up two runs and seven hits in 62/3 innings.

WHITE SOX 10, ROYALS 6: Joe Crede homered twice off Paul Byrd and Joe Borchard hit an inside-the-park homer to lift Chicago.

Paul Konerko also homered for the White Sox before the smallest Kansas City crowd in more than seven years.

The attendance of 9,555 was the lowest at Kauffman Stadium since July 5, 1995, when 7,511 saw the Royals play the Red Sox.

BLUE JAYS 11, INDIANS 9: Josh Phelps, Vernon Wells and Eric Hinske each homered and drove in three runs for visiting Toronto.

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