Griffey Hits No. 50 in Loss

Ken Griffey Jr. received a handshake and congratulations from Seattle Manager Lou Piniella in the clubhouse after hitting his career-high 50th home run Sunday against the Minnesota Twins.

Still, the Mariner slugger was in no mood to celebrate.

Griffey joined some of baseball’s greats with the home run, but Seattle still lost to the Twins, 9-6, at Minneapolis, for their seventh defeat in 12 games.

“I’d rather have the win,” Griffey said. “All I want to do is play in the playoffs and win a World Series.”

Griffey is 11 homers short of matching Roger Maris’ record of 61 in 1961. The Mariners have 19 games left.

Tewksbury (6-11) helped the Twins stop a five-game losing streak. He gave up five runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out six.

New York 10, Baltimore 3--Kenny Rogers got his first win in more than a month and the Yankees used four home runs at New York to defeat the Orioles for the first time this season.

New York had dropped its first seven games to Baltimore in 1997, a radical switch from last year when the Yankees went 10-3 against the Orioles during the regular season and defeated them in five games in the American League Championship Series.

Rogers (6-6) gave up one run and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Cleveland 5, Chicago 2--Matt Williams extended his career-high hitting streak to 23 games, and the Indians held Albert Belle hitless in his second homecoming series at Cleveland.

Jim Thome and Tony Fernandez homered as the Indians swept the White Sox, who have lost five in a row and now trail Cleveland by eight games in the Central Division.

Belle, the former Indian outfielder who signed with rival Chicago last fall, did not have a hit in 11 at-bats in the series.

Rookie Jaret Wright (6-3) gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out two for Cleveland.

OTHER GAMES

Toronto 4, Texas 0--Roger Clemens pitched a two-hitter, tying Jack Morris’ team record for victories in a season with his 21st, leading the Blue Jays over the Rangers at Toronto.

Boston 11, Milwaukee 2--Troy O’Leary hit a grand slam, John Valentin homered twice and Bill Haselman, Jeff Frye and Wilfredo Cordero also homered for the Red Sox at Boston.

Oakland 9, Kansas City 4--Eric Ludwick earned his first major league win and the Athletics scored nine runs for the third consecutive game, defeating the Royals at Kansas City.