Giambi Helps A’s Slam Devil Rays, 17-3

Jason Giambi helped the Oakland Athletics start a key 11-game trip the right way.

Giambi hit a grand slam and matched a career high with seven runs batted in Friday night as the Athletics routed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 17-3, at St. Petersburg, Fla.

“It makes it nice to come up when you’ve got guys on base all the time,” Giambi said. “It makes it real easy. It’s so much fun to come to the yard and have that opportunity to do something special. It’s great.”

Giambi set an Oakland record with his fourth grand slam of the season in the third inning. He added an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run double in the fifth.

The Athletics, who have won nine of 12, tied a major league record with their 12th grand slam this season.

The Atlanta Braves (1997) and Cleveland Indians (1999) also accomplished the feat.

The Athletics stayed a game behind the Indians for the American League wild card. They trail the Seattle Mariners by two games in the American League West.

After playing Tampa Bay and the Baltimore Orioles, the Athletics close out the trip with four games at Seattle starting Thursday.

“We’re trying to win the division, trying to make it to the postseason,” Giambi said. “We’ve got two more here, four in Baltimore and then the big showdown in Seattle. We’ve really got to take care of business here and set ourselves up to make that meaningful in Seattle.”

Barry Zito (5-3), who had a complete game shutout victory over the Devil Rays last Sunday, gave up two runs and three hits over six innings.

Cleveland 11, New York 1--Dave Burba beat the Yankees for the first time and David Segui broke open the game with a grand slam in a six-run sixth inning at New York.

David Cone (4-12), in his first game since suffering a dislocated left shoulder Sept. 5, labored through 5 2/3 innings and left with the Yankees trailing, 4-0.

Jason Grimsley walked Jim Thome, loading the bases for Segui, who homered for the third consecutive game, sending a 3-and-1 pitch into the right-field upper deck.

Seattle 10, Baltimore 2--Rickey Henderson scored two runs at Baltimore to pass Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron and move into second place on the all-time list.

Henderson has scored 2,175 runs, one more than Ruth and Aaron and trailing only Ty Cobb (2,246). He also drew two walks, moving within six of tying Ruth for first place on the all-time list (2,062).

Boston 7, Detroit 6--Scott Hatteberg hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning at Detroit.

The Red Sox remained two games behind Cleveland in the American League wild-card race.

The teams tied an American League record by using 42 players.

Nomar Garciaparra hit a leadoff single against Nelson Cruz (5-2) in the ninth and went to third on Troy O’Leary’s single. One out later, Hatteberg singled up the middle through a drawn-in infield against Todd Jones.

Toronto 6, Chicago 5--Alex Gonzalez and Darrin Fletcher homered against struggling White Sox rookie Jon Garland and the Blue Jays continued their strong play at Chicago.

The Blue Jays, three games behind the Indians in the American League wild-card chase, have won seven of their last nine games at Comiskey Park, dating to 1998. The loss left the White Sox’s magic number at 11 for clinching the AL Central.

Texas 12, Kansas City 11--Rookie Kelly Dransfeldt hit a two-out, RBI single to cap a two-run rally in the bottom of the 10th inning at Arlington, Texas, where the Rangers squandered an eight-run lead.

Rafael Palmeiro hit his 37th homer of the season and 398th of his career as Texas took a 9-1 lead into the sixth inning. The Rangers have never lost such a big lead, and barely avoided doing it this time.