White Sox Are Driven Batty by A’s Hudson

Tim Hudson held the Chicago White Sox to one hit in the first shutout of his two-year major league career, and Mike Stanley hit a two-run single in the fifth inning Monday night in the Athletics’ 3-0 victory at Oakland.

Frank Thomas’ sharp single to center with one out in the fourth inning was the only hit for the White Sox, who were shut out for the third time this season and dropped to 22-22 since the All-Star break.

Hudson (14-6), who walked only one, faced one batter over the minimum and struck out eight. The complete game was only the second in his 47 major league starts.

Chicago’s Jim Parque (10-6) matched Hudson’s performance early, but he ran into control problems in the fifth, when he walked Eric Chavez to lead off the inning.

After Chavez moved to second on Ramon Hernandez’s sacrifice and Ryan Christenson flied out, Parque walked Randy Velarde and Terrence Long to load the bases.

Stanley, filling in at first for the ailing Jason Giambi, followed with a single to center to snap the scoreless tie.

Oakland added a run off Parque in the sixth on Chavez’s RBI triple.

New York 9, Seattle 1--Roger Clemens won his seventh straight decision, pitching shutout ball before abruptly leaving in the eighth inning at Seattle.

Jose Canseco, who homered, and David Justice each drove in three runs as the Yankees sent the Mariners to their 13th defeat in 15 games.

Manager Lou Piniella had nothing to celebrate on his 57th birthday as Seattle’s lead in the AL West was cut to 1 1/2 games by Oakland. The Mariners led by seven games when their slide started on Aug. 12.

The Yankees matched their season-high five-game lead in the AL East.

Clemens gave up a leadoff single to Alex Rodriguez in the eighth. Then after going to a 1-and-1 count on Edgar Martinez, Clemens grabbed his right hamstring and Manager Joe Torre removed him from the game.

Clemens (11-6) gave up five hits and lowered his earned run average to 3.65, second in the league to Boston’s Pedro Martinez (1.77).

Cleveland 5, Texas 2--Bartolo Colon gave up five hits over eight innings at Arlington, Texas, as the Indians moved a half-game ahead of Boston in the ever-changing AL wild-card race.

Colon (12-8) struck out six and walked two. He blanked the Rangers until the eighth, when Texas’ Mike Lamb hit a two-run homer.

Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his seventh save in nine chances since being traded from Milwaukee to Cleveland.

Kenny Lofton went three for five and Roberto Alomar homered for the Indians, who are 16-8 since Aug. 2.

Tampa Bay 5, Boston 2--Mike DiFelice hit a tiebreaking two-run double in a three-run eighth inning and Bryan Rekar pitched the Devil Rays past the Red Sox at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Rekar (5-9) gave up two runs and eight hits in eight innings to win for the first time in six starts since July 28. Roberto Hernandez finished for his 26th save in 32 chances.

With the score 2-2 in the eighth, Fred McGriff drew a one-out walk off Hipolito Pichardo (5-3). Bobby Smith struck out, One out later, McGriff took third on Aubrey Huff’s single and DiFelice doubled to right-center. Jason Tyner had a run-scoring single for a three-run lead.