Indians Rally to Beat Mariners

Even Ken Griffey Jr. at his best wasn’t good enough to beat the Cleveland Indians.

Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning off Jose Mesa to lead the Indians over the Mariners, 7-4, Sunday night at Seattle.

Griffey drove in four runs and put the Mariners ahead, 4-3, with a two-run homer in the eighth.

Sexson matched his age with his 24th homer in a game when he upstaged Griffey, who now leads the AL with 38 homers.

At 76-47, the Indians have the best record in baseball and are a season-high 29 games over .500.

Mariner Manager Lou Piniella was ejected during a heated argument with second-base umpire Bill Welke after Carlos Baerga stole second base in the ninth. It appeared on TV replays that Baerga went out of the baseline to avoid Alex Rodriguez’s tag.

When Piniella came out of the dugout he stumbled and fell as Hargrove watched and laughed.

Piniella said Welke told him that he ruled Baerga safe because he could have reached second base with his hand.

“He [Baerga] was six feet from the bag,” Piniella said. “He couldn’t reach it. He could have if he was Wilt Chamberlain.”

Texas 6, Boston 0--Rafael Palmeiro homered and drove in two runs and Aaron Sele scattered eight hits as the Rangers defeated the Red Sox for the third consecutive time at Arlington.

Palmeiro’s sixth-inning solo homer was his 37th, matching his Ranger record for a left-handed hitter set in 1993. His 117 RBIs equals Al Oliver’s team left-handed mark set in 1980.

New York 5, Minnesota 3--Jorge Posada drove in three runs with a homer, triple and double, and Orlando Hernandez gave up four hits in seven innings as the Yankees won at Minneapolis.

Hernandez (14-7), who walked three and struck out three, is 9-2 since June 5. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 35th save.

Baltimore 9, Chicago 4--Jeff Conine hit a three-run home run as the Orioles defeated the White Sox at Baltimore despite losing two pitchers to injury in the first four innings.

Baltimore starter Mike Mussina left in the third after being hit in the right shoulder by a line drive. Left-hander Arthur Rhodes was removed after bruising a knuckle on the index finger of his pitching hand.

X-rays on Mussina were negative, and he will be reevaluated before his next scheduled start.

Tampa Bay 2, Kansas City 1--Honored in pregame festivities, Wade Boggs singled in the eighth inning to set up the go-ahead run that gave the Devil Rays a victory over the Royals at St. Petersburg, Fla.

“Wade Boggs Day” included a 40-minute tribute in which the Tampa native was saluted for becoming the 22nd player to reach 3,000 hits.