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AL: Dye blasts help A's pad lead in West

OAKLAND, Calif. -- After Jermaine Dye's two home runs, David Justice told his teammate to make sure he keeps swinging that way for another month.

"If Jermaine is hot, he can carry a ballclub," said Justice, who dresses next to Dye in the Oakland clubhouse. "I said, 'Just get hot for a month, that's all I ask.' "

Dye showed signs of it Sunday. His homers, including one that initially was ruled foul, helped the Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 7-5 to pull further ahead in the West.

Scott Hatteberg added a two-run homer for the A's, who increased their lead over second-place Anaheim to three.

Oakland plays three games in Seattle and three in Texas to finish the season. Anaheim is at Texas for three, then home for three with the Mariners.

"We have the edge," A's manager Art Howe said. "Every game we take off the schedule they're going to run out of time."

Mark Mulder pitched six strong innings to win his fifth straight decision as the A's won their fifth in a row and eighth in 10.

Ricardo Rincon pitched a perfect eighth and Billy Koch worked the ninth for his 43rd save in 49 chances.

Ivan Rodriguez had three singles, drove in a run and scored for the Rangers, who went 1-9 on their final road trip of the season.

Alex Rodriguez drove in a Texas run with a seventh-inning double.

Pedro rolls to 20th win

BALTIMORE -- As another unfulfilling season winds down for the Boston Red Sox, the triumphant return of Pedro Martinez stands out as perhaps the team's biggest highlight.

Martinez earned his 20th win, and Trot Nixon hit a grand slam as the Red Sox cruised past the Orioles 13-2.

Sitting in front of Martinez's locker after the game were three balloons, two of which had the numbers 2 and 0. There also was a bottle of expensive champagne and a fruit basket.

Martinez has won three Cy Young Awards, but this is only his second 20-win season. It comes after an injury-plagued season in which he won seven while battling a sore shoulder.

"I remember having flashbacks to spring training and you guys asking me every day, 'Are you going to be able to throw the next day?' Today is the day I'm very thankful for the way things have come along," he said.

Martinez joined Derek Lowe to give Boston its first pair of 20-game winners since Mel Parnell (25-7) and Ellis Kinder (23-6) in 1949.

MARINERS 3, ANGELS 2: Host Seattle prevented Anaheim from clinching a playoff spot as Ryan Franklin outpitched Jarrod Washburn, snapping a three-game winning streak for the Angels ace.

Franklin, who moved into the rotation Aug. 11, beat Anaheim for the first time in three career starts. He gave up two runs on six hits in 71/3 innings.

WHITE SOX 8, TWINS 2: Frank Thomas and D'Angelo Jimenez homered and drove in three runs each and Mark Buehrle went six solid innings for his 19th win for host Chicago.

Buehrle is scheduled to make one more start in his bid to become the White Sox's first 20-game winner since Jack McDowell in 1993.

YANKEES 4, TIGERS 3: Rondell White hit three doubles and drove in two to lead visiting New York. The Yankees, playing a makeshift lineup the day after clinching the East, swept the three-game series.

INDIANS 6, ROYALS 5: Karim Garcia hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth for visiting Cleveland.

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