Everett Shows Twice the Power for Rangers

Carl Everett became the first Texas player to homer twice in an inning, doing it in a nine-run seventh inning, as the Rangers rallied to defeat the Oakland Athletics, 12-4, Friday night at Arlington, Texas.

Ruben Rivera hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh, Juan Gonzalez drove in three runs and Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run homer, ending a streak of 17 consecutive solo homers.

Palmeiro’s 474th career homer left him one behind Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 20th place all-time.

Trailing 4-3, the Rangers scored nine runs in the seventh in their biggest inning of the season.

Everett and Rivera homered off Oakland starter Mark Mulder (11-6) to give the Rangers a 5-4 lead. After the Rangers loaded the bases, Gonzalez hit a two-run single to score Michael Young and Kevin Mench.

Palmeiro followed with an RBI single and Ivan Rodriguez hit a two-run double to make it 10-4. Everett capped the inning with a two-run blast for his eighth homer of the year.

Miguel Tejada went three for four and tied his career-best hitting streak of 15 games with a single in the first inning for Oakland. The A’s struggled to capitalize on scoring opportunities, hitting into five double plays as they lost their third in a row.

Ray Durham went one for four with an RBI in his first game for Oakland since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox in a trade Thursday.

Ranger reliever Rich Rodriguez (1-1) got two outs for the victory. Texas starter Rob Bell gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings.

Mulder gave up five runs and six hits in six innings, losing only his third start in his last 12 outings.

Baltimore 9, Boston 2--Rodrigo Lopez pitched eight strong innings for his 11th victory, the most by an Oriole rookie since 1989, leading Baltimore at Boston.

Melvin Mora and Howie Clark had consecutive RBI doubles in Baltimore’s five-run third inning. Tony Batista had a solo homer for the Orioles, who ended a three-game losing streak.

Lopez (11-3), who won his fifth consecutive decision, gave up two runs and four hits, walking one and striking out eight.

New York 12, Tampa Bay 9--Raul Mondesi homered and drove in four runs and Robin Ventura hit a two-run homer as the Yankees won at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Mondesi had a two-run double during a four-run fourth, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth and hit a solo homer in the ninth. Ventura hit his 20th homer in the eighth.

Detroit 8, Cleveland 5--Bobby Higginson, Randall Simon and Robert Fick each had four hits and two RBIs to lead the Tigers at Cleveland.

Jim Thome hit two homers for Cleveland in his return after missing six games with a stiff back. He hit his 29th in the sixth to bring the Indians within 7-4, and blasted a 470-foot shot to right in the eighth to make it 8-5.

Minnesota 10, Toronto 5--Jacque Jones hit two home runs, including a tiebreaking two-run shot in the sixth inning as the Twins won at Minneapolis.

Jones and Doug Mientkiewicz each drove in three runs for the Twins, who had 16 hits. All nine Minnesota starters had at least one hit, led by A.J. Pierzynski’s three singles.

Chicago 10, Kansas City 2--Highly touted Willie Harris, now getting a full-time chance in the majors after the White Sox traded Durham, hit his first big league home run as the White Sox won at Chicago.