Byrnes Makes Royals Pay With Home Run

No matter how far his hitting streak goes, Eric Byrnes will never forget game No. 21.

With two out and two on in the ninth inning and Oakland still alive because of shortstop Angel Berroa’s second error, Byrnes hit a three-run home run off closer Mike MacDougal.

It stretched his career-long streak to 21 games and led the Athletics to a 7-6 victory over the error-plagued Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

“This was one of the most exciting moments in my baseball career, for sure,” said Byrnes, who was 0 for 4 until the ninth.

“At that point, the streak is not even crossing my mind. I’m just trying to figure out a way to get the runners in so we could take the lead.”

Berroa, whose fielding error had allowed an unearned run earlier in the game, fumbled a potential double-play grounder with one out in the ninth and the Royals ahead, 5-4.

Berroa’s troubles were highlighted even more when Oakland shortstop Miguel Tejada made a great diving catch for the final out with the tying run at third. Tejada also had a three-run home run.

After the game, the Athletics announced they had fired hitting coach Thad Bosley, who had returned to Oakland for a meeting with General Manager Billy Beane.

Seattle 5, Minnesota 2 -- Edgar Martinez and Ichiro Suzuki hit solo home runs at Minneapolis to lead the Mariners to their fifth straight victory.

Suzuki homered, doubled, singled and scored twice as the Mariners won for the 12th time in 15 games.

Detroit 4, New York 2 -- Dmitri Young hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh inning to lead the Tigers over the Yankees at Detroit.

Adam Bernero (1-6) ended his team-record 17-start winless streak. He matched a career high with seven strikeouts in his first win since beating Montreal on June 10, 2002.

Baltimore 7, Texas 1 -- Rick Helling stymied his former team over seven innings, and Luis Matos went three for four to lead the Orioles over the Rangers at Baltimore.

Chicago at Cleveland, ppd. -- Steady rain and a forecast for more postponed the game between the Indians and White Sox. No makeup date has been scheduled.