Indians Force Issue Against Athletics

Juan Gonzalez walked with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to force in the go-ahead run and the Cleveland Indians defeated the Oakland Athletics, 2-1, Tuesday night at Oakland.

The Indians, leaders in the American League Central, snapped Oakland’s five-game winning streak and eight-game winning streak at the Oakland Coliseum. The Athletics remained three games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for the wild-card lead.

Steve Woodard (3-2), acquired in a July 28 trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, gave up one run and five hits in seven innings before being replaced by John Rocker.

Russell Branyan was walked by Cory Lidle (8-6) to lead off the eighth. He went to second after Einar Diaz reached on a bunt. They advanced on Kenny Lofton’s sacrifice bunt, but held on Omar Vizquel’s groundout to second.

Lidle intentionally walked Roberto Alomar to load the bases for Gonzalez, who walked to score Branyan.

The Athletics nearly rallied with two out in the eighth when Rocker walked Jason Giambi and Jermaine Dye singled, but Terrence Long popped out to left.

Bob Wickman earned his 22nd save.

Lidle had won five consecutive starts and eight of his last nine. He gave up two runs on five hits over 7 2/3 innings, with four strikeouts and three walks.

Johnny Damon tripled leading off the game for the Athletics and scored on Woodard’s wild pitch.

The Indians tied it in the fifth on Travis Fryman’s single to right, scoring Marty Cordova from second base.

Seattle 4, Detroit 1--Aaron Sele gave up three hits in eight innings for the Mariners and Mark McLemore had a tiebreaking run-scoring single in the seventh inning at Seattle.

The Mariners notched their 90th victory, one shy of the franchise record set last season when they went to the AL championship series. It was the 1,200th career victory for Manager Lou Piniella and 721st with the Mariners.

Sele (13-4) struck out four and walked none. Kazuhiro Sasaki earned his 39th save.

The Mariners scored three runs in the seventh on McLemore’s RBI single and Edgar Martinez’s two-run double against Jeff Weaver (10-13).

Detroit tied the score, 1-1, in the third on Juan Encarnacion’s 12th home run.

Weaver gave up 11 hits and four runs in seven innings. He struck out three and walked none.

Ishiro Suzuki singled in the second, extending his hitting streak to 18 games, fifth longest in the AL. He has the longest hitting streak in the league this season at 23 games.

Texas 13, New York 3--Ruben Sierra was five for five with two homers, including one of four slugged against Orlando Hernandez at Arlington, Texas.

Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer on the eighth pitch thrown by Hernandez, who made his first major league appearance since May 25.

Frank Catalanotto hit a two-run homer in the second inning, and Rafael Palmeiro and Sierra hit solo shots in the third, giving Texas a 7-1 lead.

Sierra hit another solo blast in the eighth against Mark Wohlers. It was the first five-hit game of Sierra’s career.

Hernandez (0-6) had been on the disabled list since June 1 because of an injured toe on his left foot. He gave up eight runs and 11 hits in five innings.

Doug Davis (7-8) gave up one run and six hits in seven innings.

Toronto 7, Minnesota 5--Shannon Stewart, Carlos Delgado and Raul Mondesi hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning for host Toronto, spoiling Brad Radke’s return from the disabled list.

Minnesota has lost 11 of 12.

Radke gave up six hits and three runs in five innings in his first start since going on the disabled list because of a thumb injury.

Brandon Lyon (2-2) won his fourth career start despite giving up five runs in five innings.

Chicago 6, Kansas City 1--Jose Valentin and Jeff Liefer homered at Kansas City and Chicago snapped Paul Byrd’s five-game winning streak.

Byrd (6-5), attempting to become the first Royal pitcher to win six starts in a row since David Cone in 1994, gave up eight hits and four runs before being replaced in the sixth.

Liefer also hit a double and a single.

Jon Garland (5-4) gave up seven hits, walked one and struck out four in seven innings. It was his first victory as a starter since May 28 against Toronto.

Tampa Bay 8, Baltimore 4--Greg Vaughn knocked in the go-ahead run with his first extra-base hit in 14 games and Chris Gomez hit a three-run homer for the Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.