AL: A's make it six straight wins

MINNEAPOLIS - Mark Kotsay, who had missed six of seven games with a bad back, had three hits and scored the go-ahead run to lead Oakland to its sixth consecutive win on Tuesday 5-2 over Minnesota.

Danny Haren allowed two runs in seven innings to extend his unbeaten streak to 13 starts. He is 8-0 during that span.

Twins starter Joe Mays cruised through the first 42/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. But he walked Nick Swisher and Mark Ellis.

Jason Kendall followed with a single to right, and Swisher scored when Jacque Jones' throw pulled catcher Joe Mauer up the third-base line. Kotsay's single gave the A's a 2-1 lead.

Michael Cuddyer tied it with a 425-foot drive to leftfield. But the A's, who have won 33 of 40, scored three in the eighth.

Kotsay led off with a single and went to second on Bobby Crosby's walk. Eric Chavez and Dan Johnson followed with run-scoring singles, and Chavez scored on a fielder's choice by Scott Hatteberg.

"There's just a confidence in the dugout right now," Hatteberg said. "It's not a fear of losing.

"It's, "We're going to win."'

RED SOX 6, ROYALS 4: Manny Ramirez, the majors' RBI leader, added to his total with a three-run homer and run-scoring single in host Boston's sixth consecutive victory.

Tim Wakefield gave up two singles and Matt Stairs' three-run homer in the first and Chip Ambres homer in the third to put the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole.

Ramirez cut it to 4-3 with his shot to straightaway center in the fourth. Then in the seventh, Jose Cruz, making his Red Sox debut, walked. Tony Graffanino singled, and pinchrunner Adam Stern scored and Graffanino went to second when the ball got past rightfielder Emil Brown.

Johnny Damon's single gave the Red Sox the lead. After David Ortiz singled, Ramirez singled home Damon for his 97th RBI.

INDIANS 6, YANKEES 5: Ronnie Belliard hit a three-run double and Victor Martinez homered for host Cleveland. In the third, Yankees starter Al Leiter walked the bases loaded before Belliard's double down the leftfield line made it 5-1.

It became 6-1 in the fifth on Martinez's homer. Since the All-Star break, he is batting a league-best .413 with five homers and 18 RBIs.

New York closed to 6-5 in the eighth when Gary Sheffield scored on Scott Sauerbeck's wild pitch. And Bernie Williams doubled with two outs in the ninth. But Bob Wickman retired Derek Jeter on a grounder to second.

BLUE JAYS 7, WHITE SOX 3: Russ Adams homered twice for visiting Toronto. Jon Garland had his worst outing of the season, seven runs and 13 hits in six innings.

The Blue Jays scored five in the second on five consecutive hits. With one out, Corey Koskie singled but was thrown out by rightfielder Jermaine Dye trying to stretch it to a double. Gregg Zaun singled, and Eric Hinske doubled. Reed Johnson drove in both with a triple to right-center. And Orlando Hudson and Adams followed with homers to make it 5-2.

Adams' leadoff homer in the fifth made it 6-2.

MARINERS 4, TIGERS 1: Jeremy Reed's hustle sparked a three-run eighth for visiting Seattle. With the score 1-1, Reed led off with a single. Dave Hansen then bunted and was thrown out by third baseman Brandon Inge. But with third base unoccupied, Reed did not slow down and reached third.

After a walk to Wiki Gonzalez, Reed scored on a double by Yuniesky Betancourt. Gonzalez and Betancourt scored on Raul Ibanez's bases-loaded single.

ANGELS 10, ORIOLES 1: Vladimir Guerrero homered twice and drove in five runs, Garret Anderson also connected and the Los Angeles sent the sputtering Baltimore Orioles to their season-worst seventh straight loss with a 10-1 victory Tuesday night.

Bartolo Colon (13-6) scattered 10 hits over seven innings, striking out seven and walking none.

The Angels, who came staggering home after a 1-5 road trip that reduced their AL West lead over Oakland from 6 1/2 games to one, maintained that margin behind Guerrero's big night.

The Orioles, who spent two months atop the AL East standings and were a season-high 14 games over .500 on June 21, are now four games under the break-even mark for the first time following their 13th loss in 14 games. The defeat, coupled with Boston's victory over Kansas City, put them a season-worst 9 1/2 games off the pace.

[Last modified August 3, 2005, 01:07:02]