Olerud Powers Mariners, 8-2

John Olerud believes he has as much bat speed now as he did when he batted .363 as the American League batting champion with Toronto in 1993.

Olerud hit two two-run homers and left-hander John Halama won his first start since May 17, and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Minnesota Twins, 8-2, Sunday at Seattle.

“I’d like to think so,” said Olerud, who left the New York Mets to join the Mariners as a free agent in 2000. “I’m always tinkering with my swing to get the ideal path to the ball. But I would think it would be the same.”

Olerud, 33, is batting .314 with 15 home runs and a team-best 54 runs batted in. He is tied with Mike Cameron for the club lead in homers.

Olerud batted .302 with 21 homers and 95 RBIs in his first season with the Mariners. He had a career-best 24 homers and 104 RBIs in 1993, when the Blue Jays were World Series champions for the second consecutive year. He insists he’s not a home run hitter.

“It was just a good day when I got some good swings at some pitches and they went out for me,” Olerud said.

Manager Lou Piniella appreciates the consistent if unspectacular Olerud, who won a Gold Glove at first base with Seattle in 2000. Olerud played in 85 of Seattle’s first 87 games.

“Ole is a consistent pro,” Piniella said. “He’s just a steady Eddie guy. He’s not flashy, but he’s there every day and he’s fit and he’s productive. He’s just the kind of guy you like in your lineup.”

The AL West-leading Mariners split a four-game series with the AL Central-leading Twins to go into the All-Star break with a 55-33 record. They were 63-24 at the All-Star break last season, when they tied the major league record with 116 victories.

Oakland 3, Kansas City 2--Barry Zito (11-3) became the first A’s pitcher with 11 victories at the All-Star break since Dave Stewart (11) and Bob Welch (14) did it in 1990. He gave up six hits, walked one and struck out nine in 7 2/3 innings.

Zito tied an Oakland record with his 15th consecutive home victory, matching Kenny Rogers. He hasn’t lost a regular-season game at home in 24 starts dating to June 2, 2001.

The A’s (50-38) have their best record at the All-Star break since starting 51-36 in 1992.

Royal starter Paul Byrd (11-6) had his three-game winning streak end. He gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He was attempting to become the first Royal pitcher to win 12 games before the All-Star break since David Cone in 1994.

Cleveland 9, Chicago 3--Milton Bradley hit a grand slam and Matt Lawton had a three-run homer to spark an eight-run third inning at Chicago.

Rookie Ryan Drese (8-6) gave up four hits in seven-plus innings, leaving in the eighth after he hit Ray Durham with a pitch and Travis Fryman booted Tony Graffanino’s grounder.

Paul Shuey then struck out Magglio Ordonez, knocked down Paul Konerko’s liner and threw him out, and struck out Jeff Liefer as the Indians held on to win two of three in the last series before the All-Star break.

Detroit 9, Boston 8--Carlos Pena had three hits and drove in the game-winning run in the eighth inning at Boston in his first game for the Tigers since being acquired from Oakland on Saturday.

The Tigers led, 1-0, 4-2, 5-4 and 8-6, but the Red Sox kept coming back, tying the score, 8-8, on Brian Daubach’s second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the sixth.

Baltimore 10, Texas 4--Tony Batista had two hits during a seven-run fourth inning at Arlington, Texas.

Batista, the only Oriole going to Milwaukee as an All-Star, started the rally with a one-out single and scored the tying run when Marty Cordova followed with a triple. His run-scoring double later in the inning gave the Orioles a 7-1 lead.

Alex Rodriguez, the only All-Star for the Rangers and the AL’s starting shortstop, homered. He leads the AL with 27 homers and 73 RBIs.