Zito Pushes Mariners to Another Loss, 5-0

Barry Zito held Seattle hitless until John Olerud singled to lead off the eighth inning, and the Oakland Athletics defeated the struggling Mariners, 5-0, Friday night at Oakland.

The Athletics, who remained tied for first place in the American League West with the Angels, ended a three-game losing streak.

Seattle lost its fifth in a row and fell farther behind the A’s and Angels in its bid for the wild-card spot. The Mariners’ losing streak is their longest since they dropped eight in a row from Aug. 12-20, 2000.

Zito (21-5), who leads the league in victories, retired the first 16 batters before walking Dan Wilson on four pitches in the sixth.

Olerud singled to center field to start the eighth and Ruben Sierra followed with a single. After Manager Art Howe visited the mound, Zito retired Mike Cameron on a fly ball and got Wilson to hit into a double play.

Ray Durham hit a solo home run in the seventh off Ismael Valdes (8-11) and scored three runs.

Zito’s brilliant season appeared as if it was about to get even better as he bid to pitch Oakland’s first no-hitter since Dave Stewart did it against Toronto in 1990.

Zito draped a towel over his head in the dugout after the inning in which he allowed his only two hits. The left-hander struck out seven and walked one in eight innings.

Cleveland 12, Minnesota 5--The Indians, in no rush to surrender their division title, stalled the Twins’ inevitable clinching again with a rout at Cleveland.

Former Dodger Terry Mulholland took a shutout into the seventh inning, and Jim Thome and Karim Garcia hit three-run homers for the defending AL Central champions, who blasted Eric Milton (13-9) for nine runs in the first two innings.

Travis Fryman homered for the Indians, who would prefer if the Twins wrapped up their championship elsewhere. Minnesota arrived in Cleveland on Thursday with a magic number of three. The Twins have brought in 10 cases of champagne in anticipation of celebrating their first playoff appearance since 1991.

Baltimore 8, Boston 3--Rookie Rodrigo Lopez earned his 15th victory and Geronimo Gil hit a two-run homer at Boston as the Orioles ended an eight-game losing streak.

Baltimore’s Mike Bordick set an AL record with his 96th consecutive errorless game at shortstop, breaking a tie with former Oriole star Cal Ripken. Rey Ordonez of the New York Mets set the major league record of 101 games in 1999-2000.

Bordick handled three chances in the field, increasing his major league record to 485 in a row without an error.

Chicago 13, New York 2--Magglio Ordonez went three for three with three RBIs and three runs scored as the White Sox capitalized on three errors to win at New York.

Mike Mussina (16-10) struggled with his control, walking four batters and hitting one, to lose his third consecutive start as the Yankees’ five-game winning streak ended.

Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 2--Eric Hinske hit a three-run homer as the Blue Jays tied a season-high with their fifth consecutive win, defeating the Devil Rays at Toronto.

The Devil Rays turned their first triple play in franchise history in the fifth inning.

Detroit 4, Kansas City 2--Carlos Pena hit a two-run homer with one out in the 10th inning at Detroit and the Tigers defeated the Royals. Pena’s 18th homer gave reliever Eric Eckenstahler (1-0) his first major league victory.