AL ROUNDUP : A’s Close Gap on Red Sox With a Split at Baltimore

The Oakland Athletics made the most of their one-night stand in Baltimore.

The A’s hit four home runs in a 9-6 victory that ended the Baltimore Orioles’ 13-game winning streak, then dropped a 12-4 decision for a doubleheader split Thursday.

Despite losing the nightcap, the A’s moved to within 4 1/2 games of the Boston Red Sox in the American League wild-card race.

The doubleheader was a makeup of two games washed out last week by Hurricane Floyd. The A’s traveled from Oakland and will move on to Texas today; the Orioles, who came from Texas, left for Boston after the doubleheader.

“It would have been nice to take that second game so you’d really get a lot of momentum going down there,” Oakland Manager Art Howe said. “But we’re the first team to beat Baltimore in two weeks, so we’ve got to feel good about that.”

Albert Belle hit four doubles and Derrick May homered in a five-run fourth inning to help the Orioles gain a split.

In the opener, Miguel Tejada hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning to propel Oakland to victory.

New York 5, Chicago 2--Roger Clemens won consecutive starts for the first time in nearly three months and Tino Martinez hit a two-run homer at New York as the Yankees clinched no worse than a tie for a playoff berth.

The Yankees need one more win or an Oakland loss to make the postseason for the fifth consecutive year.

Detroit 7, Cleveland 5--Tony Clark and Juan Encarnacion each had two runs batted in for the Tigers at Detroit.