AL: Royals inch toward record skid

SEATTLE - Kansas City's losing streak reached 17 games Tuesday night when the Royals lost 4-3 to the Mariners on Yuniesky Betancourt's go-ahead infield single in the eighth inning.

The Royals are four defeats from tying the league record set by the Orioles at the start of the 1988 season.

With the score tied at 3, Jeremy Affeldt gave up Jeremy Reed's two-out single in the eighth and walked Mike Morse. Reed stole third, then scored when Betancourt hit a grounder deep in the hole at shortstop. Angel Berroa fielded the ball and threw to second too late to get Morse.

Joel Pineiro won his second straight decision, pitching eight innings and giving up three runs and six hits. Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his 29th save in 31 opportunities.

Kansas City finished with six hits, two by Matt Stairs.

The Royals' skid started July 28 with a 10-5 loss at Tampa Bay, which went on to a four-game sweep. Four losses have been by one run, including two in a doubleheader Sunday at Detroit.

For the second straight game, bench coach Bob Schaefer filled in for manager Buddy Bell.

Bell had been expected back from Arlington National Cemetery, where he attended services Monday for his nephew, a Marine killed in Iraq. Lance Cpl. Tim Bell Jr. was killed by a roadside bomb this month.

The teams play a day game today, with D.J. Carrasco pitching for the Royals. Then Kansas City goes to Oakland for a three-game series that begins Friday night.

The Royals grabbed a 3-2 lead in the second on David DeJesus' sacrifice fly. The Mariners tied the score on Adrian Beltre's sacrifice fly in the third.

In the first, the Royals went ahead 2-0 on Stairs' run-scoring single and Emil Brown's sacrifice fly. The Mariners tied it in the bottom half on run-scoring singles by Raul Ibanez and Beltre.

RED SOX 10, TIGERS 7 (10): David Ortiz and Jason Varitek homered twice and drove in four each, and visiting Boston scored seven in the 10th.

Pinch-hitter Bill Mueller snapped a tie at 3 with a run-scoring groundout in the 10th. Ortiz and Varitek connected later in the inning for the Red Sox, who have won seven of eight. They lead the Yankees by 41/2 games in the East.

Varitek homered from both sides of the plate, the first time he has accomplished the feat and the first for a Red Sox player since Mueller did it July 29, 2003, at Texas.

Ortiz's home run in the ninth off Fernando Rodney tied the score at 3.

ORIOLES 4, A'S 3: Brian Roberts scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on a controversial error, and visiting Baltimore won in wild fashion for the second straight game.

The Orioles scored three unearned runs in the seventh against Jay Witasick. With two outs, Melvin Mora hit a sharp grounder to third and Eric Chavez had to dive to make the stop. He threw a one-hopper to first baseman Dan Johnson, who had to come off the base to field the ball but appeared to get his heel back in time.

But first-base umpire Chris Guccione signaled that Johnson's foot was off the bag. Replays from several angles showed he touched the base.

BLUE JAYS 4, ANGELS 3: Los Angeles closer Francisco Rodriguez walked Corie Koskie with the bases loaded in the ninth to force in the tying run, and pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto followed with a sacrifice fly to lift visiting Toronto.

Left-hander Joe Saunders pitched 71/3 innings in his major-league debut for the Angels and left with a 3-2 lead. But Rodriguez blew his fifth save in 32 attempts as the Angels' four-game winning streak was snapped.

INDIANS 8, RANGERS 2: Ronnie Belliard hit a three-run double to snap a seventh-inning tie and Jhonny Peralta homered twice for host Cleveland, which broke a three-game losing streak by handing Texas its eighth straight loss.

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:10:12]