Ordonez’s Six RBIs Clean Out Brewers, 11-5

Magglio Ordonez became a starter two years ago, moved to the cleanup spot for the Chicago White Sox last season and emerged as one of the American League’s most consistent hitters this season.

“I feel comfortable. Maybe it’s that I have more experience. I played a lot of ball in Venezuela and five years in the minor leagues and when I came to the big leagues, I was ready. I’m relaxed,” Ordonez said Sunday after one of his best games.

Ordonez had a grand slam, a solo homer and a career-high six runs batted in, leading the White Sox past the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-5, at Chicago.

“He’s a guy who’s grown rapidly right before our very eyes,” White Sox Manager Jerry Manuel said.

Added Chicago’s James Baldwin, who earned his 12th victory: “Maggs speaks for himself.He is coming out and attacking pitches. It shows not only for him but the whole club.”

With Juan Acevedo pitching, Ordonez hit his third career grand slam for a 9-3 lead in the sixth after singles by Mark Johnson and Ray Durham, and a walk to Frank Thomas.

Ordonez added a solo homer off David Weathers in the eighth, raising his season total to 23 with his fourth multi-homer game, his second this season. He also has 80 RBIs.

“It’s exciting,” the soft-spoken Ordonez said. “You don’t have this kind of game every day, so when you have one, you have to enjoy it and have fun.”

Baldwin (12-4), the winner in last Tuesday’s All-Star game, struck out a career-high 11 and gave up seven hits in eight innings, including three homers.

Seattle 6, Arizona 3--Rickey Henderson passed Babe Ruth on the career hits list and scored the go-ahead run after his eighth-inning triple to lead the Mariners at Phoenix.

Henderson, three for five, moved into 35th place with 2,875 hits, two more than Ruth. His first-inning double gave him 477, moving past Zack Wheat into 50th place on that list.

Jose Mesa (3-5) pitched a perfect seventh, Arthur Rhodes had a 1-2-3 eighth and Kazuhiro Sasaki finished for his 21st save in 23 chances.

Boston 5, Montreal 2--One day after butting heads with plate umpire Ronald Kulpa and getting ejected, Carl Everett went two for two with a two-run homer, leading the Red Sox over the Expos at Boston.

Everett, who argued whether his foot was out of the batter’s box, made a sliding, backhanded catch on Geoff Blum’s drive in the third, then doubled in the bottom half and hit his 25th homer in the sixth.

Chicago Cubs 10, Kansas City 7--Sammy Sosa homered twice to move into 50th on the career list, two ahead of Joe DiMaggio, and had four RBIs at Kansas City, Mo.

Sosa, who has 80 RBIs, homered in the first on an 0-2 pitch by Dan Reichert (3-6) for a 2-0 lead, then connected in the third for another two-run homer, pulling Chicago to 5-4.

Atlanta 6, Tampa Bay 4--Andruw Jones had two home runs and four RBIs and the Braves scored twice in the ninth without getting the ball out of the infield at St. Petersburg, Fla., for their fourth consecutive win.

Rafael Furcal snapped the 4-4 tie on a fielder’s choice, and Jones then drove in the second run of the inning on another fielder’s choice.

Toronto 7, New York Mets 3--Marty Cordova hit a grand slam off all-star Al Leiter at Toronto as the Mets lost for the ninth time in 12 games.

Leiter (10-3), the loser of last Tuesday’s All-Star game, walked the bases loaded in the fifth before giving up an RBI single to Alberto Castillo and an RBI grounder to Homer Bush.

Roy Halladay (4-5) gave up three runs on five hits in six innings, struck out six and walked three.

Baltimore 9, Florida 5--B.J. Surhoff homered in a four-run sixth inning against reliever Vic Darensbourg (4-1), and Delino DeShields added a three-run homer in the third at Baltimore as the Orioles snapped a three-game losing streak.

Preston Wilson had three RBIs for the Marlins, who went three for 20 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15.

Minnesota 5, St. Louis 2--Mark Redman won a matchup of rookie pitchers against Rick Ankiel at Minneapolis.

Redman (7-4) struck out seven in seven innings and gave up two runs on five hits. He didn’t give up a hit until Eric Davis opened the fifth with a bloop single to center.

Ankiel (6-5) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings, yielding to Matt Morris to start the seventh.

Houston 5, Cleveland 1--Scott Elarton won his fifth consecutive start, and Craig Biggio and Daryle Ward homered for the Astros at Cleveland. Houston won for only the seventh time in 23 games.

Elarton (9-3) gave up one run--a homer by rookie Russell Branyan--and six hits in eight innings, struck out eight and walked four.

Detroit 6, Cincinnati 2--Bobby Higginson was three for four with a homer and Juan Encarnacion hit two RBI doubles at Detroit as the Tigers snapped the Reds’ three-game winning streak.

Utility infielder Shane Halter hit a two-run double to highlight a four-run fourth that put the Tigers ahead for good.

Oakland-Colorado, ppd.--The A’s-Rockies game was rained out and rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader today.