Baseball

AL: Jays burst in 12th ends O's streak

BALTIMORE - The Blue Jays went 10 innings without a run before an unlikely player ended the Orioles' eight-game winning streak.

Gregg Zaun snapped a tie with a two-run single in the 12th inning, and Toronto received a strong performance from its bullpen in a 6-2 victory Monday night.

Zaun was locked in an 0-for-14 slump before delivering the key hit, a single up the middle that sent Baltimore to its first defeat since April 21. His skid included an 0-for-7 performance during a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.

"I've been a little frustrated," Zaun said. "That was my first hit on the trip. I haven't been feeling real comfortable. But when I picked up the bat, it felt good in my hands. I felt like I had an opportunity to do something."

The Blue Jays, who held Baltimore without a hit over the final six innings, have won six of seven. They had lost six straight to the Orioles, including three in Toronto from April 22-24 that started Baltimore's run.

Although the Orioles went in with the majors' second-best record, the smallest crowd in Camden Yards' 14-year history, 15,641, showed up on a chilly night.

Vernon Wells led off the 12th with a single off Todd Williams, who had allowed one earned run in 12 innings. Wells went to third on Corey Koskie's single before Shea Hillenbrand hit a grounder to shortstop, producing a rundown that retired Wells and left runners at second and third.

Williams then issued an intentional walk to Eric Hinske before Zaun broke a tie that had endured since the sixth inning.

Before Zaun's hit, the Blue Jays were 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Reed Johnson added a two-run single off John Parrish to complete the scoring.

Scott Schoeneweis struck out Larry Bigbie with the bases loaded and two outs in the 11th, and Miguel Batista pitched a perfect 12th.

Sammy Sosa doubled, walked three times and scored a run for the Orioles. Miguel Tejada went 0-for-5, ending a run of four games with a home run.

After scoring 62 during its eight-game streak, Baltimore managed little offense against the Blue Jays.

The Orioles' runs came in the sixth. After Toronto rookie Gustavo Chacin retired the first two, Sosa grounded a double to left and scored on Javy Lopez's double before Jay Gibbons blooped an opposite-field single to left to tie it at 2.

TIGERS 8, RED SOX 3: Carlos Pena broke a tie with a two-run homer in the sixth and added a shot in the eighth to help host Detroit to its sixth win in eight games.

Boston lost for the seventh time in its past nine games, with manager Terry Francona returning to the dugout after serving a three-game suspension for his role in the Red Sox's bench-clearing brawls at Tampa Bay on April 24.

Francona's first pitching change didn't work out. The manager replaced starter Jeremi Gonzalez, a former Ray, in the sixth with Blaine Neal, who got only one out on a sacrifice bunt after giving up Pena's homer and two walks.

ANGELS 5, MARINERS 0: Jarrod Washburn pitched four-hit ball into the eighth, and Steve Finley and Garret Anderson hit two-run homers for visiting Los Angeles. Making his sixth start of the season, Washburn walked three and struck out five in 72/3 innings to improve his ERA to 2.72.

RANGERS 3, A'S 2: Kenny Rogers pitched eight shutout innings to improve to 21-4 in 41 career starts in Oakland, and David Dellucci homered and scored twice for Texas. Rogers, 40, retired the first 14 and finished with five strikeouts.

[Last modified May 3, 2005, 02:05:25]