White Sox win behind unlikely hero
Oakland Athletics center fielder Mark Kotsay makes a leaping catch on a line drive from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Aubrey Huff in the seventh inning on Monday, May 30, 2005, in Oakland, Calif.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
CHICAGO —Timo Perez, a replacement for the injured Frank Thomas, singled in two runs in the ninth inning to give the Chicago White Sox a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Thomas made his first appearance since breaking a bone in his left ankle last July 6, but was forced to leave because of a strained hip flexor. Perez batted for him in the seventh, then helped the White Sox snap a three-game losing streak with his hit down the left-field line off Scot Shields (4-2).
Pinch-hitter Willie Harris walked to lead off the ninth and stole second, and Joe Crede also walked. Both runners moved up on Scott Podsednik's sacrifice and Shields struck out pinch-hitter Carl Everett before Perez's single.
The White Sox led 3-2 heading into the ninth behind Mark Buehrle before Los Angeles scored twice.
Buehrle left with one out after he giving up singles to Bengie and Jose Molina and was replaced by Damaso Marte. Marte got Dallas McPherson to ground toward second, but second baseman Tadahito Iguchi mishandled the ball for an error to load the bases.
Orioles 8, Red Sox 1
BOSTON — Rodrigo Lopez won his second straight start following a long winless stretch, and the Orioles broke a season-high, three-game losing streak.
David Newhan hit his first career grand slam and drove in five runs, and Baltimore built a 7-0 lead after three innings against Bronson Arroyo (4-2), who got just eight outs. Lopez (4-2) allowed just one run and six hits in eight innings. He was 0-2 in seven starts after beating the New York Yankees on April 10, then defeated Seattle 3-1 last Wednesday. Steve Kline finished the six-hitter, which boosted Baltimore's AL East lead to four games over Boston, New York and Toronto. The Orioles, swept in their weekend series against Detroit at Camden Yards, had 14 hits and improved to a major league-best 14-5 on the road.
Mariners 4, Blue Jays 3
SEATTLE — Jamie Moyer pitched six solid innings for his 131st win with Seattle, passing Randy Johnson to become the club's career leader.
Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs for the Mariners, who won their third straight, matching a season high.
The 42-year-old Moyer (5-2) improved his record in Seattle to 131-70 in 277 games. Over 20 major league seasons, he's 197-147. Johnson, 41, was 130-74 with Seattle from 1989-98, pitching in 274 games. He's 251-131 in 18 major league seasons.
Moyer outlasted Toronto's Ted Lilly (3-5), another lefty. It shaped up as a pitching duel through the early innings, until the Mariners took a 3-0 lead in the fourth.
J.J. Putz and Matt Thornton combined for 1 1-3 scoreless innings, then turned it over to closer Eddie Guardado. Making his 700th appearance, he worked the ninth for his 14th save in 15 opportunities.
Athletics 5, Devil Rays 4
OAKLAND, Calif. — Mark Kotsay drove home Marco Scutaro with a two-out single in the 11th inning, and the Athletics snapped their eight-game losing streak.
Jason Kendall tied it 4-4 with a two-out RBI single in the ninth for the A's, who rallied from a three-run deficit in the eighth to avoid their longest losing streak since dropping nine straight from July 21-29, 1998.
After Charles Thomas and Scutaro singled with one out in the 11th against Travis Harper (1-3), the Devil Rays caught Thomas in a rundown between third and home plate after Kendall's grounder. But Kotsay laced a clean single to right-center, drawing his teammates out of the dugout for the first celebration in a long time at the Coliseum.
Huston Street (2-1) got three strikeouts in 1 2-3 innings for the A's, who didn't allow a run after the fifth inning.