AL: One run enough to keep Jays rolling

BALTIMORE - First, Russ Adams failed to execute a suicide squeeze. Then, hoping merely to avoid hitting into a double play, he tapped a 15-foot roller that produced the only run Josh Towers needed in his finest pitching performance in the major leagues.

Towers allowed three hits over eight innings, and Adams' eighth-inning RBI gave the surging Toronto Blue Jays a 1-0 victory over the Orioles on Tuesday night.

Towers walked one, struck out two and did not permit a runner past first base in improving to 4-2 against his former team.

"I don't think I've thrown a better game than that," Towers said. "It's just sweet doing it against Baltimore because they're the best-hitting team in baseball."

Miguel Batista pitched a perfect ninth to earn his eighth save.

The game's first scoring threat came in the Toronto eighth, when Eric Hinske drew a leadoff walk and Gregg Zaun followed by walking on a full count. Alex Rios followed with a slow grounder to short that resulted in a putout at second base, leaving runners at the corners.

Adams then fouled off a pitch on a suicide squeeze before taking a protective swing at a 2-and-2 pitch, pushing a dribbler down the first-base line. By the time Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera reached the ball, he was too late to nail Hinske at home and was unable to throw out Adams at first.

"I was just trying to battle, just trying to get something in play and stay out of the double play," Adams said.

"He crushed it, didn't he?" Towers said with a grin. "In the box score, it looks like a line drive to the gap."

It proved to be enough to give the Blue Jays their seventh win in eight games, leaving them two behind first-place Baltimore in the East.

Towers threw 92 pitches in his longest outing of the season.

"Location is the most important thing," he said. "If I throw the ball where I want to, on the corners, and keep it out of the middle of the plate I'm going to have some success."

Pitching on 10 days' rest after a rainout in Boston washed out a scheduled start, Cabrera gave up one run and four hits in eight innings. He walked four and had a career-high eight strikeouts.

RED SOX 5, TIGERS 3: Doug Mirabelli hit his third career grand slam and former Devil Ray John Halama held Detroit to two runs and four hits in five innings in his first start of the season for visiting Boston.

Halama, taking the injured David Wells' spot in the rotation, won for the first time since October, when he beat the Tigers while pitching for Tampa Bay.

WHITE SOX 5, ROYALS 4: Carl Everett hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the eighth and rookie Tadahito Iguchi went 4-for-4 with his first major-league home run for host Chicago.

With Kansas City ahead 4-3 in the eighth, Scott Podsednik and Iguchi hit consecutive singles off Andy Sisco and scored on Everett's double off the fence in right-centerfield. Everett, the former Hillsborough High standout, leads Chicago with 25 RBIs.

INDIANS 4, TWINS 2: Jake Westbrook won for the first time this season for visiting Cleveland as his teammates began to hit. Though Westbrook had pitched eight innings in three of his first five starts, he brought a 6.35 ERA into this one. He improved it to 5.77 after allowing two runs in six innings.

ANGELS 5, MARINERS 2: John Lackey struck out nine, 40-year-old Steve Finley hit a two-run homer and visiting Los Angeles won its season-high third straight. Angels pitchers have allowed three runs in their past 31 innings.

RANGERS 6, A'S 1: Alfonso Soriano and Rod Barajas each drove in two and Chris Young pitched 52/3 scoreless innings for visiting Texas.

[Last modified May 4, 2005, 01:18:02]