Sports | Rays

Rays/MLB

AL roundup

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 28, 2006

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ATHLETICS 6, RANGERS 3 : ARLINGTON, Texas - Barry Zito pitched 71/3 strong innings and continued his success against Texas to help Oakland snap a season-high seven-game losing streak.

Zito allowed three runs and four hits. He struck out seven and walked five while improving to 10-1 for his career in Arlington. Zito is 16-3 overall against the Rangers. He has allowed six earned runs in his six starts in May for a 1.32 ERA. Huston Street got five outs for his eighth save in 10 chances.

Zito walked two before exiting in the eighth, but Street came on to get Phil Nevin to hit into a double play.

Zito took a three-hit shutout and six-run lead into the sixth, but he hit Mark Teixeira with a pitch, walked Blalock, and gave up Nevin's ninth homer of the season to make it 6-3.

Nick Swisher went 2-for-4, including a two-run triple in the sixth that extended the A's lead to 6-0 and chased Rangers starter Kameron Loe (3-5). He is hitting 10-for-17 in his last five games.

NOTABLE: The A's were outscored 40-21 during the seven-game skid.

BLUE JAYS 3, WHITE SOX 2 (11): TORONTO - White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen threatened to make changes after a tough loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Shea Hillenbrand homered in the 11th inning to give Toronto the win, but Guillen said the problems began long before the hit.

Guillen ripped his team after they failed to execute some plays and went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

"If they're not willing to play, there's going to be a lot of changes to this lineup pretty soon," said Guillen, whose team is in second place in the AL Central with a 31-17 record.

"The execution was terrible, horrible. We didn't lose this game because of a home run, we lost this game because we didn't do what we're supposed to do on the field from the first inning. We didn't bunt the ball when we were supposed to bunt the ball."

Guillen also might have been upset at Jermaine Dye, who didn't hustle and was thrown out by rightfielder Alex Rios while trying to go first to third on Joe Crede's single for the last out of the 10th.

"If they want to be a bad team, they can continue to do that, I'll play somebody else. I don't care who they are and what they do. My job is to try and win games and that's what I'm going to do. If they don't like what I say, they can leave and do whatever they want to do," Guillen said.

Chicago's Joe Crede led off the ninth with a double and advanced to third on Pablo Ozuna's sacrifice bunt. Catcher Gregg Zaun bobbled the ball, allowing Ozuna to reach first on an error.

Juan Uribe followed with an infield single that tied the game at 2.

NOTABLE: Toronto's B.J. Ryan blew his first save of the season in the ninth after converting his first 11 chances.

QUOTABLE: "We're better than this. We're way better than this. If you want to be in second place, keep playing like that. If you want to win, we have to be better and that starts right now." - Guillen

TWINS 9, MARINERS 5 : MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Twins turned the majors' second triple play in 13 days to end a serious threat in the eighth, and Michael Cuddyer and light-hitting shortstop Juan Castro homered during the victory.

Cuddyer's two-run shot in the third off Jamie Moyer helped erase a 4-1 deficit and give rookie Boof Bonser, the ex-Gibbs High star, his first career win.

Raul Ibanez had a home run and three RBIs for the Mariners, who lost their third game in a row and continued to struggle to cash in on opportunities for big innings.

The Mariners have loaded the bases with nobody out three times in the first two games of this series, but have managed just one run. On Saturday, Bonser fanned three Seattle batters to escape with the bases loaded.

NOTABLE: After each strikeout, the Metrodome's big screen showed the hitter swinging, followed by a cartoonish "BOOF!" spinning onto the picture, a play on the fight scenes from the old Batman television series.

TIGERS 3, INDIANS 1 : DETROIT - Justin Verlander pitched seven impressive innings and Magglio Ordonez hit a two-run homer to help the Tigers win their eighth straight.

It was the Tigers' 15th victory in its last 16 games. Detroit owns the major league's best record at 35-14. That win total is just eight less than Detroit had during the entire 2003 season, in which it lost 119 games.

Verlander won his fourth-straight start, but had his 20-inning scoreless streak halted by Grady Sizemore's home run leading off the fourth inning.

Fernando Rodney pitched the eighth and Todd Jones took over in the ninth for his 16th save in 17 opportunities.

Detroit got all the runs it needed in the first on Ordonez's two-out, two-run homer. Carlos Guillen, who had reached on an error, scored ahead of Ordonez's 12th home run.

NOTABLE: Tigers leftfielder Craig Monroe robbed Sizemore of a second home run when he leaped above the fence to catch Sizemore's drive with none out in the eighth and a man on.

YANKEES 15, ROYALS 4 : NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez has found his rhythm, and he helped the Yankees get back in step on Saturday.

"Alex has been hot lately and I'm just happy for him," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I know what it means to him and it's helping us win games."

Rodriguez, the reigning AL MVP, went 2-for-3, scored four runs and is 9-for-19 (.474) in his last five games. He said he started to develop a good rhythm at the plate during the Yankees' three-game series at Boston, and it has carried over to the homestand.

"My swing for the most part has always been pretty sound," he said. "It's just a matter of going out and relaxing and not trying to do too much."

NOTABLE: Ex-Ray Miguel Cairo tied a career high with four hits for the Yankees, who jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings.

QUOTABLE: "How do I sum it up: terrible." - Royals starter Jeremy Affeldt, on his outing

ANGELS 10, ORIOLES 1 : ANAHEIM, Calif. - Jered Weaver pitched seven shutout innings in his major-league debut with older brother Jeff watching from the Angels' dugout.

Jered Weaver gave up three hits, walked one and struck out five for Los Angeles, which won its season-high fourth straight game.

Garret Anderson had two RBIs as he played in his 1,662nd regular-season game with the Angels, breaking Brian Downing's franchise record.

The Weavers became the first pair of brothers to pitch for the Angels in their 46-year history.

Jered, a 23-year-old right-hander, threw 64 of his 97 pitches for strikes. He held the Orioles to one hit after the second inning - a bloop single by Melvin Mora.

NOTABLE: The Orioles have lost 15 of their past 19 road games and have scored just eight runs in a four-game span since getting nine runs in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 14-4 win at Seattle.

[Last modified May 28, 2006, 01:28:09]

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