Mariners’ Extra Work Has Benefit

Al Martin’s tiebreaking single in the 10th inning Monday night helped the Seattle Mariners to a 9-7 victory over the Texas Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

Six of the nine American League All-Star starters announced earlier in the day played in the game.

John Olerud led off the 10th with a double against reliever Mark Petkovsek (0-1). Bret Boone reached on an infield single before Martin’s run-scoring hit. Mark McLemore added a sacrifice fly.

Jeff Nelson (3-1), the fourth Seattle pitcher, got only the final out in the ninth but was the winner. Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched the 10th for his 29th save in 33 opportunities, striking out Ivan Rodriguez and Alex Rodriguez.

Ichiro Suzuki, the top All-Star vote-getter, hit a two-run home run in the ninth against Texas reliever Jeff Zimmerman to tie the score at 7-7. Suzuki’s fourth home run of the season scored pinch-hitter Tom Lampkin, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning.

Cleveland 2, Kansas City 1--Einar Diaz hit a run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth inning at Cleveland to give John Rocker his first victory with the Indians and end the Royals’ six-game winning streak.

Diaz singled to left field against Jeff Austin, scoring Jim Thome from second base. Thome beat the throw by Raul Ibanez with a fallaway slide, touching the plate with his left hand just ahead of the tag of catcher A.J. Hinch.

Thome had reached second to open the inning against Larry Cogan (0-3) when Ibanez, who entered in the eighth as a pinch-hitter, dropped his routine fly ball for an error.

New York 7, Tampa Bay 1--Chuck Knoblauch, whose average fell to .247, ended a 0-for-16 slump with a three-run home run that capped a six-run seventh inning and helped the Yankees finish off a four-game sweep at New York.

Mike Mussina (9-7) won his fourth start in a row and Luis Sojo broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run single against Albie Lopez (3-11), who became the first American League pitcher to lose 10 consecutive decisions since Derek Lowe’s 11-game slide from June 1997 to June 1998.

Minnesota 7, Chicago 5--Corey Koskie hit two home runs at Chicago, continuing his season-long tear against White Sox pitching as the Twins beat the defending American League Central champions for the ninth time in 10 meetings.

Koskie is 13 for 37 against the White Sox this season with four homers and eight runs batted in.

Boston 16, Toronto 4--Manny Ramirez hit his American League-leading 25th home run and drove in four runs at Toronto during the Red Sox’ highest-scoring game of the season.