Blowers Hits for Cycle; A’s Win

Rounding first base in the eighth inning, Mike Blowers knew he needed to make it to third to complete the cycle.

“I’ve never seen him run that fast,” Oakland teammate Scott Spiezio said.

Blowers did make it, going four for five with four runs batted in Monday as the Athletics routed the White Sox, 14-0, at Chicago.

“When I came around first, and I saw where the ball was, and I thought I was going to make it as long as I didn’t fall down,” Blowers said.

“I didn’t think cycle until I was running to first base and I saw the ball slicing into the corner. I wasn’t going to stop even if he cut that ball off. I was going to give it a shot. I don’t hit too many triples, so the cycle part of it didn’t even enter my mind.”

Blowers, who has seven triples in 1,916 career at-bats, became the 218th major leaguer and only second Oakland player to hit for the cycle. Tony Phillips did it at Baltimore on May 16, 1986.

Blowers homered off Mike Sirotka (5-4) leading off the second, flied out in the third, hit a two-run double in the fifth and singled in the seventh before getting his final hit.

Seattle 9, Toronto 4--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 16th home run at Toronto to tie teammate Alex Rodriguez for the AL lead as the Mariners handed Rogers Clemens one of the worst losses of his career.

John Marzano had four runs batted in for the Mariners and Clemens (4-5) gave up nine earned runs and 10 hits in five innings.

Tampa Bay 6, Baltimore 3--The Devil Rays became the second expansion team in baseball history to sweep a four-game series on the road as Dave Martinez drove in two runs in a victory at Baltimore.

Rookie Randy Winn had three hits for the Devil Rays, who joined Colorado as first-year teams to sweep a four-game series. The Rockies swept the Dodgers in 1993.