Griffey Hits Two Homers in Victory

Ken Griffey Jr. hit two home runs to become the seventh player in major league history with 40 homers in four straight seasons as the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-0, Tuesday night at Seattle.

Griffey’s AL-leading 40th and 41st homers, both two-run, opposite-field shots, helped Freddy Garcia get his 13th victory, most among rookies in the majors.

Garcia (13-7) pitched a six-hitter, while striking out a career-high 12. He walked one and hit a batter on the way to his first shutout.

The Tigers loaded the bases on two hits and a walk in the sixth before Garcia struck out Damion Easley to end the threat. Garcia is 3-0 against Detroit this season.

Griffey joined Babe Ruth, Ralph Kiner, Duke Snider, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew and Mark McGwire as the only players to hit 40 or more homers in four consecutive seasons. Griffey hit 49, 56 and 56 in his previous three seasons.

Griffey homered in his third straight game at Safeco Field, giving him eight in 26 games at his new home ballpark.

The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first on Alex Rodriguez’s RBI single off Willie Blair (1-10). In the third, Griffey hit his first homer, a 348-foot fly that hit the top of the left-field fence and bounced into the Tiger bullpen.

Griffey’s second homer also came off Blair, a 381-foot line drive.

Oakland 11, Cleveland 10--John Jaha hit a grand slam and a tiebreaking solo home run in the eighth inning and Randy Velarde homered twice for the A’s at Oakland.

A.J. Hinch and Scott Spiezio also homered for Oakland, which remained tied with Boston in the wild-card race.

The Athletics’ season-high six homers gave them their second win in 11 games against Cleveland this year.

Jim Thome hit a grand slam for the Indians.

Velarde hit a solo homer that tied the score at 10 with one out in the eighth. With two out, Jaha hit his 30th homer off Paul Shuey (7-5).

T.J. Mathews (8-3) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win.

New York 10, Texas 7--Tino Martinez hit a three-run homer in the 11th at Arlington, Texas, as the Yankees kept up their dominance of the Rangers.

Derek Jeter drew a one-out walk from reliever Corey Lee (0-1), who made his major league debut. Paul O’Neill followed with a single. One out later, Martinez hit a full-count pitch into the right-field seats for his 20th homer.

The Yankees, who have knocked the Rangers out of the playoffs two of the last three years, are 25-9 against Texas since the beginning of the 1996 division series.

Ramiro Mendoza (6-7) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Mariano Rivera pitched the 11th for his 36th save. With two runners on and two outs, Rivera struck out Ivan Rodriguez, who went 0for 6.

Baltimore 5, Kansas City 3--Albert Belle’s two-run homer in the 10th inning at Kansas City lifted the Orioles past the Royals after Kansas City reliever Jeff Montgomery blew a bid for career save No. 300.

Montgomery, bidding to become the 10th pitcher with 300 saves, started the ninth but surrendered a two-out, RBI single to Derrick May that tied the score at 3.

Tampa Bay 6, Chicago 5--Wilson Alvarez won his third straight decision since coming off the disabled list and Jose Canseco had two RBIs for the Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tampa Bay improved to 13-9 in August, setting a team record for wins in a month. The Devil Rays need to win two of their remaining six games this month to record their first winning month.