A’s Back on Track Against Indians

The Oakland Athletics picked the right time to end their recent slide.

Mike Stanley hit a home run and drove in two runs and Eric Chavez hit a two-run homer as the A’s defeated the Cleveland Indians, 8-1, Monday night at Oakland.

The victory was only the second in nine games for the A’s, who moved one game ahead of the Indians in the American League wild-card race.

The Indians’ loss was only their third in 12 games.

Kevin Appier (11-9), who gave up 10 runs in his last outing against the New York Yankees, limited the Indians to one run and eight hits with four walks and three strikeouts in six-plus innings.

Stanley’s sacrifice fly in the second scored Terrence Long, who tripled, putting the A’s ahead, 2-0. Stanley hit his 11th homer--his first with the A’s--in the sixth against reliever Tom Martin to make the score 7-1.

Chavez’s 18th homer, which followed Matt Stairs’ run-scoring ground ball, gave the A’s a 6-0 lead in the fourth.

Roberto Alomar hit his 14th homer for the Indians.

Detroit 15, Seattle 4--Bobby Higginson and Juan Gonzalez homered during an eight-run fifth at Seattle as the Tigers extended the Mariners’ losing streak to three games.

Wendell Magee had four of the Tigers’ 18 hits.

Willie Blair (9-3) won for the first time in three starts since July 30, giving up four runs and 10 hits in seven innings.

Jamie Moyer (11-6) lost his third consecutive decision, giving up 11 runs--six earned--and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Leading 5-0, the Tigers sent 11 men to the plate in the fifth, their biggest scoring inning of the season. Mariner second baseman Mark McLemore committed a fielding error and first baseman John Olerud had a throwing error that led to seven unearned runs.

Gonzalez hit a two-run homer and Higginson hit a three-run homer in the inning against Joel Pinero, recalled from the minors earlier in the day.

New York 7, Texas 3--Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter hit long two-run homers at Arlington, Texas as the Yankees beat the Rangers for the ninth consecutive time, including all six this season and a three-game sweep in the first round of last year’s playoffs.

The Yankees have won 38 of 49 games between the teams since the opening game of their 1996 playoff series.

Andy Pettitte (14-6) pitched seven strong innings before tiring in the eighth. He earned his fifth consecutive victory.

Pettitte gave up only four hits while shutting out the Rangers the first seven innings.

The Yankees led, 2-0, after only two batters came to the plate. Jeter was hit on the leg by a pitch and Posada followed with his 22nd homer, a 424-foot blast to left.

Jeter, who had an RBI double in the fifth, hit a 412-foot homer to left-center field when the Yankees scored three runs in the sixth.

Matt Perisho (2-5) lost his fifth consecutive start despite striking out eight in six innings.

Gabe Kapler of the Rangers extended the longest hitting streak in the majors this season to 27 games.

Baltimore 8, Chicago 2--Jose Mercedes gave up one run in eight innings and Jerry Hairston and Luis Matos homered for the Orioles at Baltimore.

Mercedes (8-4), the only Oriole starter with a winning record, is unbeaten in six starts since July 8. He gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked three against a White Sox team that leads the majors in runs.

Hairston’s lead-off homer sparked a four-run first inning against Mike Sirotka (10-10), and Matos’ first major league homer, a three-run shot, made the score 7-0 in the third.