Mariners Finally Go on Offense

When the Seattle Mariners tied a major league record with 116 victories last season, their longest winning streak was a team-record 15 games.

So all they can do is shake their heads in admiration at what the Oakland Athletics are doing.

“What have they won--18 in a row or so?” Mariner Manager Lou Piniella said after Seattle’s 9-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday at Seattle. “Tip your hats to them.”

Dan Wilson homered and drove in three runs as the Mariners broke out of their hitting slump. They scored only eight runs in their previous five games--four losses, including two to the Royals.

Desi Relaford and John Olerud each had three hits for the Mariners, who have fallen into third place in the American League West, six games behind Oakland.

They are 2 1/2 games behind the Angels in the wild-card race.

The Safeco Field crowd of 45,461 let out a collective groan when the scoreboard posted Oakland’s comeback victory over Minnesota during the seventh inning.

The defending division champions have 25 games left, with six each against Oakland and the Angels.

Piniella doesn’t know if the Mariners can catch the A’s, but he knows they’re going to try their hardest.

“We need to start winning with some consistency,” he said. “Right now, the only way we’re going to get back in it is to win some ballgames.”

Toronto 7, New York 6--Rookie Josh Phelps doubled twice and drove in three runs to help the Blue Jays beat David Wells at Sky Dome.

Vernon Wells tied a career high with four hits for the Blue Jays, who won three of four from the AL East leaders. Phelps had eight hits in 14 at-bats and drove in 10 runs in the series.

With the score tied, 4-4, in the seventh, Jayson Werth singled against Wells (15-7) for his first major league hit. Wells then walked Shannon Stewart before Dave Berg hit a tiebreaking single to center.

Wells followed with a run-scoring single against Ramiro Mendoza and Phelps had a run-scoring double, giving Toronto a 7-4 lead.

Chicago 7, Detroit 0--Mark Buehrle (17-9) pitched a seven-hitter to become the first White Sox left-hander with 17 victories since 1985. He struck out four and did not walk a batter in his fourth career shutout and second this season.

The White Sox have won a season-high five in a row and seven of nine. The Tigers have lost four in a row and 10 of 11. It was also their seventh loss in a row at home.

Britt Burns was the last left-hander to win 17 games for Chicago, going 18-11 in 1985.

Boston 7, Cleveland 1--Manny Ramirez and Brian Daubach hit consecutive home runs and Tim Wakefield pitched seven strong innings at Cleveland.

The Red Sox won for only the third time in eight games.

Wakefield (8-5) did not give up a hit until Matt Lawton led off the fifth inning with his 15th homer to make it 7-1.

The knuckleballer gave up three hits, walked two and struck out six to win for the fifth time in seven starts since July 23.

Tampa Bay 8, Texas 3--Jared Sandberg and Randy Winn homered at Arlington, Texas, and the Devil Rays completed only their second series sweep this season.

The Devil Rays won the first three games of the season against the Detroit Tigers. Their last road sweep came July 27-30, 2000, at Kansas City.