Rodriguez Powers His Way to Marks

The records keeping coming for Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez hit a pair of three-run homers, breaking his own major league mark for shortstops with 53 home runs in a season as the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 12-7, Monday night at Arlington, Texas.

While the Rangers head toward their third straight last-place finish, Rodriguez maintains his focus, beating his one-time teammates as the Mariners attempt to stay in contention.

“We have a responsibility to the rest of the American League West to continue to play hard,” Rodriguez said. “I have a lot of great friends over there, so it’s tough to go against them, but at the same time it feels good to play well against them. We haven’t played a lot of important games, but when you’re playing against playoff contenders, it brings your game up a notch.”

The Rangers homered in their 27th straight game, extending their big league mark.

Ichiro Suzuki and Desi Relaford led off the game with homers for the Mariners. But the Rangers rallied behind Rodriguez and stopped Seattle’s three-game win streak.

Rodriguez hit 52 homers last year, setting the record for shortstops and the Ranger home run mark.

“It’s really humbling to be at the top of the list on a team that has such a history of great offense,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has 10 multihomer games this season, one short of the major league record held by Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa (1998).

Boston 6, Tampa Bay 3--Derek Lowe became the American League’s second 19-game winner despite being ejected at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Lowe (19-7) was leading, 4-3, when he was ejected by plate umpire Jerry Crawford after hitting Felix Escalona with his first pitch in the seventh. Lowe also hit Escalona in the fifth inning, but no warning was issued then.

Manny Ramirez hit a tiebreaking homer, a solo shot in the seventh off Tanyon Sturtze (3-16) that put Boston ahead, 4-3. Ramirez has six homers and 18 runs batted in against Tampa Bay this season and 27 homers overall.

Minnesota 5, Detroit 2--Dustan Mohr hit an RBI double and scored twice at Minneapolis as the Twins ended their 20-inning scoreless streak.

After being shut out in consecutive games by Oakland left-handers Barry Zito and Mark Mulder, the AL Central leaders broke through against lefty Mike Maroth.

Jacque Jones drove in two runs as the Twins finished with nine hits, nearly matching their 10-hit output over the last two games.

Rick Reed (14-7), the most consistent starter in Minnesota’s injury-plagued rotation this year, gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Chicago 10, Kansas City 6--Joe Crede homered twice off Paul Byrd and Joe Borchard hit an inside-the-park homer to lift the White Sox at Kansas City, Mo.

The attendance of 9,555 was the lowest at Kauffman Stadium since July 5, 1995, when 7,511 saw the Royals play the Red Sox.

Toronto 11, Cleveland 9--Josh Phelps, Vernon Wells and Eric Hinske each homered and drove in three runs to lead the Blue Jays at Cleveland.

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Boston ace Pedro Martinez threw in the bullpen and is scheduled to pitch Wednesday against Tampa Bay after missing two starts because of a left hip injury.... Texas infielder Herbert Perry agreed to a $3-million, two-year contract extension that will keep him with the club through 2004.