Thomas Puts Big Hurt on Yankees

The long fly ball by Frank Thomas settled into the glove of left fielder Dave Dellucci -- after it clanked high off the foul pole near the upper deck.

It was a huge grand slam for Thomas against Roger Clemens, and a big victory for the Chicago White Sox over the Yankees at New York.

Magglio Ordonez followed with another long home run off the front of the center-field bleachers and the White Sox beat up the Yankees, 13-2, Tuesday night at New York in a matchup of division leaders.

“It’s very big,” Thomas said. “Everybody’s harping on how bad we are on the road.”

Ordonez and Paul Konerko each homered twice, and Joe Crede also connected for Chicago, which hit six homers in a game for the second time this season.

Esteban Loaiza (17-6) had an outstanding cutter and improved to 6-1 since the All-Star break, tying Toronto’s Roy Halladay for the American League lead in victories. He gave up one hit in seven innings, struck out nine and left with an 11-0 lead.

Clemens (12-8) made his 600th start and had one of his worst outings, tying his high by giving up nine runs. He gave up four homers in a game for only the second time in his career.

Chicago, which has won seven of eight, maintained a one-game lead over Kansas City in the AL Central, and New York stayed five games in front of Boston in the AL East.

The White Sox are 43-23 at home but 27-39 on the road.

*

Seattle 9, Tampa Bay 3 -- Jamie Moyer (16-6) pitched seven innings for his first victory in three weeks, Carlos Guillen hit a three-run home run and drove in a career-high five runs, and the host Mariners ended a season-high six-game losing streak.

*

Toronto 12, Boston 9 -- Vernon Wells hit a run-scoring double that keyed a five-run eighth inning at Boston and the Blue Jays ended the Red Sox’s five-game winning streak.

The Red Sox trailed, 7-1, but rallied to tie the score on David McCarty’s three-run homer.

*

Kansas City 9, Texas 2 -- Mike Sweeney and Aaron Guiel each homered and drove in four runs at Kansas City, Mo., in support of Brian Anderson, acquired Monday in a trade with Cleveland.

*

Detroit 5, Cleveland 4 -- Craig Monroe and Dmitri Young each homered at Cleveland to help the Tigers win consecutive games for the first time in six weeks.

*

Oakland 2, Baltimore 1 -- Pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg’s bases-loaded single to center field with no out in the bottom of the 12th inning lifted the host Athletics.