Griffey Hits Two Homers in Victory

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 51st and 52nd home runs, ending an eight-game homerless streak, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 Monday night at Seattle.

Griffey has 11 games left in his bid to reach Roger Maris’ record of 61 homers in 1961. Griffey has homered eight times in September.

Griffey overtook Mark McGwire, who hit his 51st homer for St. Louis on Sunday, for the major league lead.

With 52 homers, Griffey tied for the most in a season since ’61 -- when Maris had his 61 and New York Yankees teammate Mickey Mantle hit 54. Since then, Willie Mays (1965), George Foster (1977) and McGwire (1996) have had 52 homers, too.

Griffey leads the majors with 139 RBIs. He went three-for-four, raising his average to .304.

Dan Wilson, Joey Cora and Paul Sorrento also homered for Seattle.

Griffey homered both times into the second deck in right field against Woody Williams (8-14). Griffey hit two-run shot in the first inning and a solo drive in the fifth, giving him seven multi-homer games this season.

Ken Cloude (3-2) was the winner and Heathcliff Slocumb got his 25th save.

Griffey became the sixth major league player to hit 100 or more home runs over two consecutive seasons, matching a feat accomplished by McGwire. Griffey hit 49 homers last season.

Rookie Jose Cruz Jr. hit a two-run homer for Toronto, his 24th and his 12th since being acquired from Seattle on July 31.

Baltimore 6-1, Cleveland 5-4-- Eric Davis played his first game since colon cancer surgery in June, going five innings as the Orioles clinched a playoff berth by winning the opener of a doubleheader at Baltimore.

Davis went hitless, but Baltimore became the first team in the majors to clinch a spot in the postseason and reduced their magic number to clinch the AL East title to nine.

In the second game, Chad Ogea (7-9) pitched six shutout innings and Marquis Grissom homered off Rick Krivda (4-1).

Batting third and playing right field in his first game since May 25, Davis put up numbers that were rather ordinary--four catches and going hitless in three at-bats.

Yet the return itself was nothing short of remarkable, considering Davis had a cancerous tumor and one-third of his colon removed just three months earlier and has been undergoing energy-sapping chemotherapy treatments for several weeks.

New York 7, Boston 6--Derek Jeter singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning as the Yankees rallied to beat the Red Sox at New York, lowering their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to six.

On a night that included Tino Martinez’s first homer in three weeks and a weird, game-tying play in the sixth, Jim Corsi (3-2) walked Paul O’Neill leading off the ninth. O’Neill then tagged up and just beat the throw following Bernie Williams’ fly to deep left.

Martinez was intentionally walked, Chad Curtis struck out and Jeter singled just in front of a diving Michael Coleman in center, his third straight hit.

Milwaukee 11, Chicago 10-- Jeromy Burnitz and Darrin Jackson drove in three runs apiece as the Brewers ended a five-game losing streak at Milwaukee.

Jackson and Jack Voigt hit two-run homers for the Brewers, who moved into second place in the AL Central, a game ahead of Chicago but seven games behind first-place Cleveland.

Kansas City 11, Texas 9-- Jose Offerman had four hits and four RBIs and Jeff King’s two-run double in the ninth inning gave the Royals a win at Arlington, Texas.

Offerman led off the ninth with a single against Danny Patterson (9-6) and Jed Hansen entered as a pinch-runner. Johnny Damon popped up a bunt attempt, but Jay Bell singled and King followed with his double into the left-field corner.

Detroit 6, Oakland 3--Bobby Higginson hit a three-run homer and rookie Frank Catalanotto had a two-run double as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Athletics at Oakland.

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NEXT SERIES FOR ANGELS

WHO: Oakland Athletics

WHERE: Anaheim Stadium

WHEN: Wednesday: 7;30 p.m.; Thursday 3 p.m.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Ken Griffey Jr. Seattle 2 home runs, 3 RBIs Win B. Higginson Detroit 3-run home run Win Jose Offerman Kansas City 4 hits, 4 RBIs Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Ken Cloude Seattle 6 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits Win J. Thompson Detroit 7 innings, 3 runs Win Chad Ogea Cleveland 6 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits Win

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