Athletics Finally Cure Their Road Woes

After two consecutive ugly losses in Detroit, Oakland Manager Art Howe was ready to take a win any way he could.

He got it when Nelson Cruz’s wild pitch scored the tiebreaking run in the 11th inning and the Athletics defeated the Tigers, 5-4, Sunday at Detroit, snapping the Tigers’ six-game winning streak.

“It wasn’t the way we had it drawn up, but we got the job done,” Howe said after Oakland ended a seven-game road losing streak.

The win moved the A’s within two games of first-place Seattle in the AL West. Oakland leads Boston by one game in the AL wild-card race.

“Obviously it’s big,” said Ben Grieve, who was three for five with two doubles and an RBI. “Any win now is huge for us, and after the first two games here we needed something.”

Jason Isringhausen (6-4) pitched two innings, working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 10th. Jeff Tam got the final out for his third save.

Cleveland 12, Seattle 4--Kenny Lofton homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs at Cleveland as the Indians handed the Mariners their eighth consecutive loss.

The Mariners have allowed at least nine runs in the last seven losses--tying a 99-year-old major league record set by the New York Giants in 1901.

Texas 6, Boston 2--Doug Davis (5-4) pitched a nine-hitter and Frank Catalanotto drove in three runs as the Rangers avoided a four-game sweep at Boston.

Catalanotto, who was 0 for nine in the first three games of the series, gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with a double in the fifth inning. Texas won for only the third time in 11 games.

Tampa Bay 12, Chicago 11--Jason Tyner’s RBI double in the ninth inning capped the Devil Rays’ rally from a four-run deficit and gave them the win at Chicago.

The Devil Rays, who led 6-2 before battling back from a 10-6 hole, tied the game at 11 when Bobby Smith led off the ninth inning against Keith Foulke (3-1) with his fourth homer. Foulke blew his fifth save in 27 chances.

Toronto 6, Minnesota 3--David Wells struck out seven and pitched his seventh complete game of the season to become the majors’ first 18-game winner as the Blue Jays won at Toronto.

Baltimore 2, Kansas City 1--Sidney Ponson (7-8) allowed one run in eight innings and Jeff Conine doubled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth at Baltimore.