Griffey Hits 20th Homer in Mariners’ Win

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 20th home run and Alex Rodriguez hit two homers Monday night to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 10-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Seattle.

Griffey, who started the night tied with Jose Canseco of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the major league home run lead, capped the Mariners’ six-run second inning against Sidney Ponson (5-4) with his 370th homer.

Butch Huskey also homered for the Mariners, who needed fewer games to reach the 100-homer mark than any other team in major league history. They hit 102 in their first 50 games.

Their four Monday gave them 58 for May, tying the Orioles’ 12-year-old record for homers in a month.

Rodriguez hit his seventh and eighth homers in 16 games since being activated May 14 after undergoing surgery on his left knee to repair torn cartilage. With their All-Star shortstop back in the lineup, the Mariners are 11-5 to go two games over .500.

Rodriguez is hitting .413 with seven doubles, 16 runs batted in and 25 runs scored. He has hit in his last nine games.

“I feel like I can be better,” he said. “I have some pretty good numbers to show for it, but I’m not quite as comfortable as I need to be.”

Boston 8, Detroit 7--Jason Varitek had a pinch-hit two-run homer and Troy O’Leary added a two-run homer in a wild four-run seventh inning at Boston in which three Tigers were ejected.

Brian Daubach added a two-run homer for the Red Sox, who won for the 19th time in 24 games.

Detroit’s Damion Easley was hit by pitches three times, tying a major league record.

Trailing in the seventh, 6-4, the Red Sox rallied against reliever Matt Anderson (1-1), who entered with one out and a man on first.

Varitek, the first batter he faced, homered over the bullpen in right to tie the score. After Nomar Garciaparra singled, O’Leary lofted an opposite-field, wind-aided homer into the left-field screen.

Anderson then hit Mike Stanley with a 3-and-2 pitch on his side. As Stanley walked slowly to first, Anderson was ejected, prompting a wild argument in which catcher Brad Ausmus and Manager Larry Parrish were ejected by plate umpire Chuck Meriwether.

Texas 4, Kansas City 3--Juan Gonzalez singled home the winning run in the 10th inning at Arlington, Texas, giving the Rangers their seventh consecutive victory.

It’s the longest streak for the Rangers since they won seven in a row from Aug. 9-16, 1996.

Oakland 10, Tampa Bay 7--Matt Stairs’ three-run homer in the ninth inning gave the Athletics the victory at Oakland.

The homer came against Esteban Yan (1-1), who nearly triggered a brawl by hitting Tony Phillips with a pitch to start the inning.