Giants’ Williams Baffles Athletics

Jerome Williams pitched a seven-hitter for his first major league shutout, and Barry Bonds hit his 634th career homer as the San Francisco Giants beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-0, Friday night at San Francisco.

Pedro Feliz had a homer and a two-run single, and Jose Cruz Jr. also homered as the Giants evened the Bay Bridge Series at two games apiece. Oakland won two of three at home last weekend.

Bonds led off the sixth inning with his 21st homer of the season, putting Ted Lilly’s pitch into McCovey Cove beyond the right-field arcade. It was the first homer in a week for the defending National League batting champion and most valuable player, who went one for eight in San Francisco’s series against the Dodgers earlier in the week.

Williams, a 21-year-old rookie from Hawaii, allowed only one runner to reach second base and needed only 96 pitches in a deceptively overpowering performance. He retired the side in order in the ninth, punching his fist into his glove and taking a long look around the park after striking out Ramon Hernandez.

Lilly gave up seven hits and three walks.

New York Yankees 6, New York Mets 4 -- Hideki Matsui and Jason Giambi hit early two-run doubles and David Wells hung on at Yankee Stadium.

A crowd of 55,226 saw the Yankees improve to 3-0 against the Mets in interleague play this season. The teams will meet in a two-park doubleheader today, starting in the Bronx by day and moving to Shea Stadium at night.

Wells (10-2) won despite giving up 12 hits -- one shy of his career high -- in six innings. Still, he managed to earn his 195th career victory, helped by the Yankee bats -- they’ve averaged about 7 1/2 runs in his starts.

Chicago White Sox 4, Chicago Cubs 3 -- Jose Valentin hit a one-out homer in the bottom of the ninth to lead the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

Valentin sent a pitch from Antonio Alfonseca (0-1) well over the fence in right center for his 11th homer of the season.

The White Sox, winners of five of their last seven, have also won three of the first four meetings with the Cubs in their interleague series.

The Cubs, who have lost three straight, tying their longest skid of the season, scored two in the top of the ninth to tie the score on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Sammy Sosa and an RBI single by Moises Alou against Billy Koch (3-4).

Atlanta 8, Tampa Bay 2 -- Horacio Ramirez won his sixth straight decision and Chipper Jones went four for five with a two-run homer to lead the Braves at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Gary Sheffield and Andruw Jones also homered to give Manager Bobby Cox his 1,500th victory with Atlanta. Rafael Furcal hit a three-run double for the NL East-leading Braves (50-27), the first NL team this season to reach 50 wins.

Philadelphia 4, Baltimore 2 -- Jason Michaels hit a three-run homer in the 17th inning to carry the Phillies at Baltimore in a marathon that lasted 5 hours 41 minutes.

It was the Orioles’ longest game in innings since September 1974, when Baltimore needed 17 innings to beat Milwaukee, 1-0.

Philadelphia gave up a first-inning run and then held the Orioles scoreless until the 17th in winning for the fifth time in six games.

Texas 10, Houston 7 -- Rafael Palmeiro hit his 508th career homer, a three-run shot in the seventh inning that led the Rangers over the Astros at Houston and ended a 12-game road losing streak.

Houston’s David Matranga homered in his first major league at-bat, the 86th player to accomplish the feat.

Seattle 8, San Diego 2 -- Joel Pineiro pitched four-hit ball into the eighth inning and Carlos Guillen homered to lead the Mariners at Seattle.

Pineiro (8-5) won his third straight start and improved to 4-1 over his last six.

Kansas City 6, St. Louis 3 -- Darrell May earned his first win since last September in his 14th start of the season, and the Royals extended their winning streak to five games with a victory at Kansas City, Mo.

May (1-4) had gone 16 starts and 19 appearances without a victory since beating the Chicago White Sox, 9-6, Sept. 11.

Cleveland 3, Cincinnati 0 -- Rookie Billy Traber pitched seven strong innings at Cleveland for his first win as a starter and the Indians ended a three-game losing streak.

Traber (3-4) gave up five hits in his longest career outing.

Milwaukee 13, Minnesota 1 -- Matt Kinney gave up eight hits in his first career complete game, and Richie Sexson had three hits and five RBIs to power the Brewers at Minneapolis.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pittsburgh 5, Colorado 3 -- Josh Fogg won for the first time at home this season, and Matt Stairs drove in two runs to lead the Pirates over the Rockies. The Pirates scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning en route to their eighth win in 12 games after losing six in a row.