Seattle Seven Leads to Sweep of Twins

By the time Kenny Rogers got an out, the Seattle Mariners had all the runs they needed.

Seattle’s first seven hitters reached base -- on six singles and a big-hop triple by Greg Colbrunn -- and the Mariners completed a four-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 9-5 victory Sunday at Minneapolis.

“There really wasn’t much I could do but keep throwing strikes,” Rogers said. “It’s hard to change your game plan when they’re not hitting you hard.”

Most of the seven hits were groundballs through the infield or bloopers that fell in front of the outfielders, including Colbrunn’s triple -- which bounced off the turf and over right fielder Dustan Mohr.

The Mariners scored six times in the first inning and beat Rogers for the first time in his last eight starts against them.

The Mariners, whose 37-18 record is the best in the American League, outhit the Twins, 55-29, in the series and are 6-0 halfway into a 12-game trip.

Edgar Martinez homered and had four hits, and Bret Boone hit his 15th home run for the Mariners.

Toronto 11, Boston 8 -- Roy Halladay won his seventh consecutive start and the Blue Jays rallied from a six-run deficit to complete a three-game sweep at Toronto. The Blue Jays had swept a four-game series at New York the previous weekend and have won nine of 11.

Byung-Hyun Kim made his first appearance for Boston in the seventh. Kim was acquired from Arizona on Thursday in a trade for Shea Hillenbrand.

Oakland 6, Kansas City 4 -- Ramon Hernandez and Terrence Long hit run-scoring singles in the top of the eighth inning at Kansas City, Mo. Eric Byrnes led off the game with a homer, extending his hitting streak to 22 games.

Cleveland 5, Chicago 4 -- Rookie Jody Gerut blooped a bases-loaded, pinch-hit single off the glove of shortstop Jose Valentin with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning to help the Indians win their fourth in a row.

Baltimore 5, Texas 4 -- Jeff Conine singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning after a throwing error by Hank Blalock, and the host Orioles earned their ninth victory in 11 games.