Halladay Extends His Winning Streak to 15

Roy Halladay won his 15th consecutive decision, pitching seven scoreless innings to lead the Toronto Blue Jays over the Baltimore Orioles, 10-1, Sunday at Toronto.

Halladay (15-2) matched the club record for consecutive wins set by Roger Clemens in 1998 and is the first major league pitcher to win 15 straight decisions since Clemens won 16 in a row for the New York Yankees in 2001.

“It’s fun to have your name next to somebody like him,” Halladay said.

The right-hander hasn’t lost in 20 starts since April 15 at Yankee Stadium.

Asked whether he even remembers what it’s like to lose, he said: “A no-decision is just as frustrating for me as a loss.”

The American League record for consecutive wins -- 16 -- was first set by Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators in 1912.

Halladay, 26, became baseball’s first 15-game winner. Pitching on three days’ rest for the third time this season, he yielded only two hits while walking none.

Rube Marquard and Tim Keefe share the major league record of winning 19 consecutive decisions. Marquard did it for the New York Giants in 1912 and Keefe did it for them in 1888.

Carlos Delgado hit his league-leading 30th home run, becoming the first Blue Jay to hit 30 or more home runs in seven consecutive seasons.

Kansas City 5, Detroit 1 -- Jose Lima (7-0) continued his remarkable major league comeback, giving up four hits in five shutout innings against his former team at Detroit.

Lima, who has a 2.17 earned-run average, won his seventh consecutive start, helped by homers from Angel Berroa and Desi Relaford.

Chicago 9, Tampa Bay 1 -- Bartolo Colon (8-9) combined with Kelly Wunsch on a four-hitter, and Frank Thomas homered and drove in three runs at Chicago to lead the White Sox to their ninth win in 10 games.

Colon gave up Rocco Baldelli’s first-inning homer, then retired 18 consecutive batters until Aubrey Huff doubled in the seventh. He gave up three hits, struck out eight and walked none.

Texas 7, Seattle 3 -- John Thomson (8-10) pitched eight solid innings at Seattle, yielding three runs and eight hits to reduce the Mariners’ lead over Oakland in the West Division to three games, the closest the Athletics have been since May 27.

Boston 6, New York 4 -- Jason Varitek hit a tying three-run homer and Johnny Damon followed with another homer as the Red Sox scored six times in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Jeff Weaver took a 3-0 lead and a two-hitter into the seventh before he walked Trot Nixon and hit Bill Mueller with one out. Chris Hammond, who had yielded one homer all season, relieved and Varitek homered to left. Damon then homered to right on Hammond’s 10th pitch.

Cleveland 3, Minnesota 2 -- Tim Laker, who left the bases loaded when he popped up off Juan Rincon (2-4) for the final out of the 10th inning, hit a run-scoring single off Rincon with two outs in the 14th inning at Cleveland. The Indians improved to 3-8 since the All-Star break.