Athletics Extend Win Streak to 14

Mark Mulder has a different record in mind for the Oakland Athletics.

The Bash Brothers of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco set the Oakland standard by winning 14 consecutive games in 1988.

The 2002 Athletics matched that Tuesday night with a 6-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kansas City, Mo. A’s starting pitchers have accounted for 13 of the 14 victories during the streak.

“The ’88 team made it to the World Series,” said Mulder, who won his third consecutive start. “We’ll talk about it once we do a little bit more than this.”

The streak is the longest in the majors since Seattle won 15 in a row last season. The franchise record is a 17-game streak in 1931 when the team played in Philadelphia.

“We haven’t been making too many mistakes,” Mulder said. “We’ve played solid ball. We’ve been playing good defense, pitching well and hitting well. All around, we’re just playing good ball.”

The A’s 3.69 earned-run average is the best in the American League.

David Justice led the A’s offense against the Royals with three hits, including his 10th home run, and drove in three runs.

Mulder (16-7) gave up four runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings.

Billy Koch pitched the ninth for his 35th save in 40 opportunities.

Ray Durham homered off Runelvys Hernandez (3-3) in the fifth for the A’s, who scored single runs in the third through eighth innings.

Joe Randa had three hits for the Royals, including a two-run triple in the eighth off Jim Mecir. Carlos Beltran had an RBI single earlier in the inning to end Mulder’s outing.

New York 6, Boston 0--David Wells took a shutout into the ninth inning to win for the eighth time in nine decisions, and the Yankees padded their lead in the AL East with a victory at Boston.

The Yankees lead the Red Sox by eight games in the division, with four games left between the two teams over the next eight days.

One night after the Red Sox pounded out 18 hits in an emotional, 10-9 extra-inning victory over the Angels, they managed only two singles and three doubles against Wells (15-6). In all, Wells struck out six and walked none before leaving after Johnny Damon’s leadoff double in the ninth.

Minnesota 5, Seattle 2--Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones backed Joe Mays (3-5) with solo homers in the Twins’ victory at Minneapolis.

Hunter was three for four for the Twins, who have won six of eight. After losing eight of nine to the AL West champion Mariners last season, the Twins are 3-2 against them this year.

Minnesota’s Cristian Guzman went 0 for 4, ending his 23-game hitting streak.

Detroit 8, Cleveland 5--Mark Redman pitched eight strong innings at Cleveland to win for the first time in five starts and help the Tigers end a six-game losing streak.

Redman (8-12) survived a three-run rally in the fourth and got some run support from Damion Easley and Bobby Higginson, who had two RBIs each.

Carlos Pena homered for the Tigers.

Chicago 8, Toronto 4--Joe Crede tied the score with a two-run homer off Kelvim Escobar in the bottom of the ninth inning and won it in the 10th against Felix Heredia with the first grand slam of his career.

Texas 9, Baltimore 4--Alex Rodriguez and Herbert Perry homered and Carl Everett went four for four at Arlington, Texas.

Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 47th homer in a three-run eighth.