Mariners’ 19th Victory Ties Record

The Seattle Mariners won their eighth consecutive game and tied a major league record with their 19th victory in April in defeating the Chicago White Sox, 8-3, Friday night at Chicago.

The Mariners have won 12 of 13 and at 19-4 are off to baseball’s best start since Milwaukee won 20 of 23 to begin the 1987 season. The 1997 Atlanta Braves were the only other team to win 19 games in April.

The defending American League Central champion White Sox, who have lost nine of 12, also lost slugger Frank Thomas, who left the game after spraining his right triceps diving for a ball.

Aaron Sele (4-0) allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings for the win in the first meeting between the teams since Seattle swept Chicago in the first round of last year’s playoffs.

After James Baldwin retired the first two batters in the second inning, the Mariners loaded the bases. Ichiro Suzuki hit a grounder to first base and Thomas dived to his left but couldn’t catch the ball, which rolled away for a two-run double, scoring Tom Lampkin and David Bell.

Thomas landed on his right arm, and remained on his stomach until the trainer arrived. He is considered day to day.

John Olerud led off the third with his fourth homer of the year to make it 4-0. Two outs later, Bell’s hit drove in Lampkin, who had three hits, with a single.

Boston 9, Kansas City 2--Manny Ramirez and Troy O’Leary hit consecutive home runs and Carl Everett had his second grand slam in the last three days as the Red Sox cruised to a victory at Boston.

Ramirez hit an opposite-field three-run homer off Royal starter Blake Stein in the fifth inning that just cleared the fence in right field.

O’Leary followed with a solo shot down the right-field line for his first of the season. It also marked the first time that Boston hit back-to-back homers this year.

Minnesota 6, Baltimore 3--Doug Mientkiewicz hit two home runs and drove in four runs as the Twins won at Minneapolis for the ninth time in 10 home games.

Mientkiewicz hit a three-run homer in the first inning off Jose Mercedes and a solo shot in the sixth for the first multihomer game of his career. He has five homers this season.

Minnesota’s 16-5 start is its best since 1972. Delino DeShields hit two home runs for Baltimore off Joe Mays (3-1), who allowed four hits in seven innings.

New York 3, Oakland 2--Tino Martinez hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning at New York as the Yankees ended a losing streak at three.

With the game tied at 2-2, Martinez hit a 2-0 pitch from Mark Mulder into the second deck in right field to give New York the lead in the teams’ first meeting since the Yankees beat the Athletics in Game 5 to win last season’s AL division series.

Texas 11, Cleveland 9--Rusty Greer hit two home runs, Gabe Kapler hit a grand slam and Alex Rodriguez had a two-run homer to power the Rangers at Cleveland.

Greer led off the third and sixth innings with homers and added a run-scoring double in the eighth for the Rangers, who nearly blew a 9-1 lead.

Detroit 4, Tampa Bay 2--Jose Macias homered and scored three times at Detroit to help the Tigers win consecutive games for the second time this season.

Dave Mlicki (1-2) allowed two runs, six hits and three walks in seven innings.