Zito Stops Twins for His 20th Win

Barry Zito became the American League’s first 20-game winner, giving up three hits in seven innings as the Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-0, Sunday night in Minneapolis.

Miguel Tejada and Adam Piatt homered for the A’s, who won for the 22nd time in 23 games and maintained a two-game lead over the Angels in the AL West.

They open a four-game series against the Angels tonight at Edison Field, with Tim Hudson pitching against Kevin Appier.

Zito (20-5) struck out seven and walked two, securing the first 20-win season of his career and boosting his chances for the Cy Young Award. Jim Mecir and Ricardo Rincon finished the three-hitter. Oakland leads the majors with 17 shutouts.

With the A’s leading, 3-0, Minnesota had its best chance to score in the fourth with two on and one out. But Zito struck out Torii Hunter and Bobby Kielty to end the threat.

Zito improved to 44-17 in his three-year career, the best winning percentage (.721) in modern major league history with a minimum of 50 decisions.

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Seattle 16, Kansas City 9--John Olerud hit a three-run homer in the 11th inning and Ben Davis belted a grand slam at Kansas City.

The Mariners, who have won three in a row for the first time since July 29-Aug. 3, remained four games behind the Angels in the AL wild-card race. They scored eight times in the 11th inning after blowing a three-run lead in the ninth.

Desi Relaford, who had four hits, singled with one out in the 11th. Edgar Martinez walked before Olerud’s shot to right-center against Blake Stein (0-4).

After Davis homered, Mike Cameron homered to make it 16-8. The Royals have lost 12 of their last 13 home games.

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Tampa Bay 6, Texas 3--The Rangers set a major league-record by homering in their 26th consecutive game when Rafael Palmeiro hit a solo shot in the sixth inning at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Palmeiro’s 39th homer this season and 486th of his career came on a 1-and-1 pitch from Wilson Alvarez. Alex Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 51st homer, against Esteban Yan in the eighth.

The 1941 New York Yankees, 1994 Detroit Tigers and 1998 Atlanta Braves homered in 25 consecutive games.

The Rangers hit homers in 21 consecutive games this season from June 24-July 18. They are the only team to have two streaks of 20 games or more in a season.

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New York 6, Detroit 4--The Yankees reduced their magic number for clinching the AL East to 12 thanks to Rondell White’s three-run homer in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium.

White entered the game with only one hit in 26 at-bats .

Mike Stanton (7-1) got the win and Steve Karsay got two out for his 10th save.

Coupled with Boston’s 9-4 loss to Toronto, the Yankees moved closer to winning their fifth consecutive division title.

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Toronto 9, Boston 4--Esteban Loaiza (8-8) pitched seven solid innings at Boston to win for the fourth time in six starts. He gave up three runs and nine hits.

Carlos Delgado scored four runs and Chris Woodward had three hits, including two doubles, and three runs batted in.

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Chicago 7, Cleveland 6--Frank Thomas hit a game-tying three-run homer in the ninth and Joe Crede had a game-winning single at Chicago.

Closer Danys Baez (10-11) couldn’t protect a three-run lead and blew his first save this season.