Delgado’s Homer Keys Toronto’s Late Rally

With his team in a rut, Carlos Delgado provided a much-needed spark for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Delgado hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning as the Blue Jays rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-6, Sunday for just their fourth win in 12 games.

“We’ve been through some hard times, we’ve been losing, we’ve had guys hurt, so we had to battle,” Delgado said. “It was a big game for us and hopefully we can turn things around and start from here.”

Jose Cruz Jr., who entered the game batting .226, went 3 for 3 with two doubles and a two-run homer for the Blue Jays.

Alex Gonzalez led off the ninth with a walk off Kip Gross (0-2). Shawn Green followed with a sharp single to right, sending Gonzalez to third. Delgado then hit Gross’ next pitch into the second deck for his 10th homer.

“It was just plain ugly,” Gross said.

Graeme Lloyd (3-1) pitched a hitless ninth for the Blue Jays, who rallied from 4-1 and 6-4 deficits to tie the game in the eighth inning.

“I think the way we won it was better than if we won 15-0,” Green said. “It’s good to get the feeling back that we had in the first couple of weeks.”

After Delgado singled to lead off the eighth, Derek Lowe relieved Mark Guthrie and walked Tony Fernandez. One out later, Lowe walked Cruz to load the bases and pinch-hitter Kevin Witt followed with a two-run single to tie it at 6.

“I got a big hit but with one pitch Delgado took the load off our shoulders,” Witt said.

Reggie Jefferson homered and had three RBIs for Boston, which fell one game behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East. The Red Sox had won three straight and nine of 10.

“We can’t get down about losing one game, the team’s playing to good to be worried about this,” Jefferson said.

New York 2, Chicago 1--Chili Davis hit a two-run home run and Andy Pettitte held the White Sox to one run in six innings as the Yankees ended their five-game losing streak with a victory at New York.

The Yankees’ losing streak was their longest since September 1997 when they lost six straight. Their five-game home skid was their longest on one homestand since September 1990.

The Yankees wasted strong starts by David Cone and Hideki Irabu in losing back-to-back shutouts to the Angels earlier this week. In the first two games against the White Sox, New York scored six runs, but the pitchers had allowed 20 runs.

Oakland 4, Minnesota 2--Jimmy Haynes gave up three hits in seven innings and John Jaha hit a three-run home run to lift the Athletics to their first three-game sweep with a victory over the Twins at Oakland.

The A’s (21-17) have won six straight and are four games over .500 for the first time since July 1996. Oakland, which trails Texas by a half game in the AL West, has not been in second place this late in the season since 1995.

After allowing an RBI double to Ron Coomer with one out in the third, Haynes (2-5) retired the final 14 batters he faced. Haynes walked three and struck out seven.

Billy Taylor pitched the ninth for his 10th save.

Seattle 5, Kansas City 1--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his major league-leading 14th home run and Jamie Moyer gave up eight hits in eight innings as the Mariners ended the Royals’ six-game road winning streak.

Griffey, who has homered in three straight games, went 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Alex Rodriguez drove in a run, had two doubles, a walk, and scored two runs for the Mariners.

Moyer (3-4) allowed two walks and struck out five to win consecutive starts for the first time this season. Jose Mesa allowed an RBI groundout to Chad Kreuter in the ninth.

Detroit 9, Cleveland 3--Rookie Jeff Weaver held the Indians’ powerful lineup to two runs in six-plus innings and Bobby Higginson homered twice as the Tigers ended the Indians’ six-game winning streak at Detroit.

Tony Clark also homered for the Tigers, who ended a five-game losing streak with just their second win in their last nine home games against Cleveland.

The Indians, still a major league-best 26-10, had won nine of their last 11. It was only their second loss in 11 games against AL Central Division rivals.

Weaver (4-3) gave up four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. After seven major league starts, he has stopped Tiger losing streaks of six, two and five games.

Masao Kida allowed three hits, including Jim Thome’s fifth homer, in three innings for his first career save.