Griffey Doesn’t Give Pitchers Any Breaks

The way Ken Griffey Jr. is hitting this week, he might even catch Mark McGwire by the All-Star break.

“Junior’s incredible,” Seattle Mariners teammate Russ Davis said after Griffey hit home run No. 35 in Thursday’s 10-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies. “That’s why they call him the best in baseball.”

Griffey, the American League leader in home runs, hit one for the fourth consecutive game and tripled as the Mariners beat up Darryl Kile, scoring 10 runs in the first two innings.

Last season’s AL MVP hit a two-run triple in the six-run first, then led off the second with a 369-foot opposite-field shot to left. Griffey, who led the AL with 56 homers last season, is two behind McGwire, the major league leader.

The homer gave Griffey six consecutive extra-base hits, one shy of the major league record; he had a homer and three doubles in his last four at-bats Wednesday night.

Griffey flied to left in the fourth inning, ending his streak, and also made a sensational catch of Mike Lansing’s liner to end the seventh. He was three for five and finished the series eight for 15 with three homers, three doubles, a triple and six runs batted in.

Atlanta 6, Tampa Bay 0--Greg Maddux pitched his second consecutive shutout to defeat Rolando Arrojo in a matchup of All-Star pitchers, leading the Braves over the Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Maddux (12-2), has won 10 consecutive decisions, the longest current streak in the majors. He struck out eight and walked one in the 27th shutout of his career.

Keith Lockhart homered twice, a solo shot in the sixth against Arrojo (10-5) and a three-run drive off Jim Mecir in the ninth. Chipper Jones also hit a solo homer.

Baltimore 5, Florida 3--Rafael Palmeiro, who was named to the AL All-Star team as a replacement for Mo Vaughn, homered for the fourth consecutive game and the Orioles stopped their eight-game losing streak by finally defeating the Marlins at Baltimore.

Rookie Sidney Ponson gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings to help Baltimore to its first victory since June 22. Ponson (2-6), who gave up 15 runs in his previous two starts, struck out four and walked none.

Chicago Cubs 3, Arizona 2--Jose Hernandez hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the sixth inning, and the Cubs defeated the Diamondbacks at Chicago to win consecutive games for the first time in three weeks.

Since a 10-game winning streak from May 29-June 8, the Cubs have gone 7-15. Sammy Sosa, who hit a record 20 homers in June to raise his season total to 33, was hitless in three at-bats.

New York Mets 9, Toronto 2--Mike Piazza homered and Bobby Jones pitched a five-hitter as the Mets defeated the Blue Jays at Toronto to salvage the last game of the three-game interleague series.

Piazza hit a two-run shot in the third inning to give the Mets a 3-0 lead, and Todd Pratt had a three-run homer in the fifth to make it 8-0.

Pittsburgh 5, Detroit 2--Esteban Loaiza limited the Tigers to one run over 7 2/3 innings and helped himself with a run-scoring single as the Pirates ended their four-game home losing streak.

Loaiza (6-4), who has won four of five decisions since temporarily being banished to the Pirate bullpen, took a shutout into the seventh before Luis Gonzalez hit his ninth homer.

Boston 15, Montreal 0--Nomar Garciaparra hit a two-run homer to extend his hitting streak to 23 games, and Mike Benjamin and Darren Lewis each had four hits as the Red Sox routed the Expos at Boston.

Pedro Martinez went six innings for the Red Sox, who set a season high in runs and matched a season high with 20 hits.

Cleveland 7, Milwaukee 2--Jim Thome hit a two-run home run while Bartolo Colon won his fifth consecutive start and had his first major league hit and RBI in the Indians’ victory at Milwaukee.

Colon (9-4), selected to the AL All-Star team Wednesday, gave up 10 hits and one run in six innings, tying his shortest outing and most hits allowed this season. He struck out four and walked two.

Cincinnati 8, Minnesota 7--Reggie Sanders’ triple started a four-run eighth inning, and Eddie Taubensee’s RBI single in the ninth completed the Reds’ comeback as they defeated the Twins at Cincinnati.

The Reds got their sixth victory in seven games by scoring all eight runs against Minnesota’s bullpen.

Chicago White Sox 4, Houston 3--Magglio Ordonez hit a three-run double in a four-run fourth inning as the White Sox defeated the Astros at Houston.

The White Sox won their final interleague game this season after Houston won the first two games of the series by a combined score of 27-6.

St. Louis 3, Kansas City 0--Juan Acevedo pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings as the Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over the Royals at St. Louis.

McGwire was hitless in two at-bats with two walks as the Cardinals won for only the second time in nine games and averted a three-game sweep in the Royals’ first visit to St. Louis since the 1985 World Series.

Royal third baseman Dean Palmer left the game with a bruised left elbow after being hit by a pitch in the second inning.

New York Yankees 9, Phillies 8--Tino Martinez tied it with a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and rookie Ricky Ledee singled home the winning run in the 11th as the Yankees rallied for a wild victory over the Phillies at New York.

The Yankees, who trailed 7-2 in the eighth, swept the three-game series to finish with a major league-best 13-3 interleague record.

New York’s 58-20 record is the best in club history after 78 games.