Candiotti Wins Nice, Slowly Against Irabu

Hideki Irabu gave up only two hits Wednesday night at Oakland.

Both were costly.

Tom Candiotti threw some pitches that wouldn’t have gotten a ticket on the expressway outside Oakland Alameda Coliseum, but they were good enough to baffle New York in the Athletics’ 3-1 victory that averted a four-game New York Yankee sweep.

Candiotti’s knuckleball held New York to four hits and gave him his second victory in a row after he had lost nine of 10 decisions.

He was helped by Rafael Bournigal’s soft RBI single in the fifth inning and Rickey Henderson’s homer in the eighth.

The only run off Candiotti came on Tino Martinez’ 18th homer of the season leading off the fifth.

Candiotti walked Martinez with two outs in the ninth but then struck out Darryl Strawberry, who had homered in his last five games.

Candiotti worked out of a jam in the seventh. He loaded the bases with one out, but got Chad Curtis and Jorge Posada on fly balls to center. Curtis’ fly was too shallow to drive in the tying run from third base.

Irabu (10-5) had a no-hitter through four innings, but gave up two runs in the fifth on a hit batsman, a walk, Bournigal’s run-scoring single to shallow right and a sacrifice fly by A.J. Hinch.

Baltimore 6, Toronto 1--It was throwback day for Juan Guzman, who pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and got plenty of help from Roberto Alomar.

And Guzman had to pause a bit to remember he wasn’t in Toronto any more.

Pitching for the first time in an Orioles’ uniform, Guzman gave up a run and struck out two in winning at Baltimore to complete a two-game sweep.

It was his first game for his new employer since being obtained from Toronto, where he and Alomar helped lead the Blue Jays to World Series titles.

Alomar homered, drove in two runs and made several sparkling plays at second base.

“He just backed me up the way he did for years,” Guzman said.

Rafael Palmeiro hit the fifth grand slam of his career for the Orioles, who won the season series, 10-1. Baltimore outscored the Tigers, 63-28, in the 11 games.

The Orioles are 20-5 since the all-star break, winning seven of nine series and sweeping six. Baltimore moved three games over .500 for the first time since April 26.

Texas 4, Toronto 3--Mike Simms’ pinch-hit RBI single won the game in ninth inning after Juan Gonzalez tied it with a solo home run for the Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

With the Rangers trailing, 3-2, Gonzalez led off the ninth with his 32nd homer, a towering blast to left off Randy Myers (3-4). Gonzalez, who returned after missing six games with a strained hamstring, raised his major-league leading RBI total to 117.

Myers walked two batters and got an out before Simms hit a single down the left-field line.

Felipe Crespo’s two-out RBI single off John Wetteland in the top of the ninth gave Toronto a 3-2 lead, but Wetteland (3-1) got the victory after the Rangers rallied to win.

Texas starter Esteban Loaiza, acquired from Pittsburgh on July 17, pitched his second successive strong game for Texas. He held the Blue Jays to two runs and five hits over eight innings.

Kansas City 4, Minnesota 3--Sal Fasano broke out of a slump with a three-run homer and Jose Offerman hit a solo shot and extended his hitting streak to 24 games and added a home run for the Royals in a win at Minneapolis.

Fasano was hitless in 12 at-bats and hitting .114 over 15 games until he homered to left field off Frank Rodriguez with two outs in the fifth inning. That helped Kansas City win for the fifth time in six games and move within half a game of the Twins for second place in the AL Central.

Offerman singled in the sixth to tie Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra for the second-longest hitting streak in the majors this season. The Angels’ Garret Anderson has the longest streak this year at 28 games.

Tim Belcher (11-9) held Minnesota to five hits in seven innings. He walked four and struck out four.