Another Zito Shutout Keeps A’s on Course

Barry Zito pitched a four-hitter for his second shutout in three starts to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 9-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians Monday night at Oakland.

Olmedo Saenz hit a bases-loaded triple and Jermaine Dye added a two-run home run as Oakland won its 16th game in 18 to remain four games ahead of Boston in the American League wild-card race.

Zito (9-8), who beat the Red Sox, 6-0, on Aug. 9, struck out a career-high 11 and walked two. He retired 17 in a row at one point and allowed only two runners to reach second base.

Chuck Finley (5-6) allowed five runs and seven hits over five-plus innings. Finley fell to 8-20 in his career against the A’s, including a 3-11 mark in Oakland, his most losses against any team.

Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada singled around a walk to Terrence Long to load the bases with two outs in the fourth for Oakland. Saenz blooped a ball to right field that skipped past a charging Juan Gonzalez as all three runners scored easily.

New York 9, Texas 5--Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez homered in a five-run eighth inning as the Yankees rallied to win at Arlington, Texas.

The Rangers led, 5-4, before O’Neill and Martinez both hit long blasts off Juan Moreno (3-3), snapping the Yankees’ modest two-game losing streak and keeping Roger Clemens’ impressive streak of 12 consecutive victories with a loss intact.

O’Neill, leading off the eighth, hit Moreno’s fourth pitch into the second deck of the stands in right for his 19th home run. Bernie Williams then singled and Tino Martinez hit his 28th home run.

Toronto 3, Minnesota 2--At Minneapolis, Kelvim Escobar came within two outs of his second career shutout and Brad Fullmer hit a three-run home run as the Blue Jays handed the Twins their 10th loss in 11 games.

Escobar (5-5), moved from the bullpen to the rotation last month, allowed only three doubles in the first eight innings. After getting the first out in the ninth, Escobar gave up a double to Jacque Jones, Cristian Guzman’s run-scoring single and a walk to Doug Mientkiewicz.

Billy Koch relieved and allowed Corey Koskie’s RBI single before striking out Torii Hunter and getting David Ortiz on a groundout for his 28th save in 33 chances.

Detroit 4, Seattle 1--Knuckleballer Steve Sparks pitched a five-hitter for his fifth complete game as the Tigers won at Seattle.

Shane Halter hit a two-run home run for the Tigers, who evened their season series with the Mariners at 2-2. Detroit is the only team that’s even with the Mariners (89-36) this season.

Kansas City 10, Chicago 1--Jose Valentin committed errors on consecutive bases-loaded grounders, paving the way for the Royals’ five-run third inning in their victory at Kansas City, Mo.

Raul Ibanez and Dave McCarty each homered and drove in three runs as Kansas City handed the White Sox their fourth consecutive loss.

Boston reliever Hipolito Pichardo retired following Sunday’s poor outing against Baltimore. Pichardo had a 2-1 record and a 4.93 earned-run average in 30 appearances. . . . Seattle signed Rosemead Don Bosco High shortstop Michael Garciaparra, the younger brother of Boston Red Sox star Nomar Garciaparra, to a minor-league contract. Michael Garciaparra was the Mariners’ first pick in the 2001 draft, the 36th overall selection. . . . Texas continued negotiations with first-round draft pick Mark Teixeira, who didn’t attend the first day of classes at Georgia Tech.