Athletics’ Seventh a Hit Parade

Once the Oakland Athletics started to swing away in the seventh inning, they could not be stopped, setting a team record with 10 hits in an inning on their way to a 14-5 rout of the Kansas City Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

“That’s cool,” said Eric Chavez, who had one of three home runs in an eight-run seventh. “They say hitting can be contagious and it really was for us tonight.”

Chavez, Terrence Long and Jason Giambi each homered as the Athletics broke the club record of nine hits in an inning that was accomplished three times, most recently in the first against the Angels on July 5, 1996.

“Sometimes guys start getting hits and it carries over to the rest of the team,” Oakland’s Ben Grieve said. “And sometimes when you get a big lead like that, pitchers are just trying to get the ball over the plate, and that makes it even worse.”

The A’s sent 13 batters to the plate in the seventh against Jay Witasick and Jason Rakers. Giambi and Grieve each had two hits and one run batted in in the inning for the A’s, who have won five of their last six games on the road.

Ramon Hernandez was the only A’s starter without a hit or an RBI.

The A’s had three homers and seven doubles among their 20 hits. Seven A’s had at least two hits. Miguel Tejada had four, and Olmedo Saenz and Frank Menechino had three apiece. Long had three RBIs, and Tejada, Giambi, Grieve and Saenz each had two.

New York 6, Cleveland 5--Mark Whiten, making his first start of the season in center field, dropped Ricky Ledee’s RBI double in the ninth inning at Cleveland as the Yankees scored twice to complete a three-game sweep.

The Yankees, who are 24-9 at Jacobs Field, rallied in the ninth against Steve Karsay (0-1).

Shane Spencer, who homered earlier, keyed the comeback with the first triple of his career. Scott Brosius tied the score, at 5-5, with an RBI single and Ledee drove in the go-ahead run with a shot to center that Whiten ran down on the warning track but couldn’t hold.

Whiten is in center field because of injuries to Jacob Cruz and Kenny Lofton. He was brought up from triple A on Sunday when Cruz was placed on the 60-day disabled list because of a torn knee ligament, and Lofton went on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained biceps muscle.

Minnesota 5, Seattle 4--Cristian Guzman hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning at Minneapolis.

Chicago 7, Toronto 3--Jose Valentin, Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning at Chicago to help the White Sox end a three-game losing streak.

Texas 5, Tampa Bay 1--Royce Clayton homered and Mark Clark pitched six scoreless innings for the Rangers at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Boston 4, Detroit 2--Jose Offerman and Trot Nixon hit consecutive doubles to break an eighth-inning tie at Boston.

Playing for the first time after being benched for two games, Offerman ended an 0-for-15 slump with a double that eluded first baseman Tony Clark when it took a bad hop off the bag.