Blue Jays Finally Win One at Home

Chris Gomez ended Toronto’s home drought -- and Curt Schilling’s night -- with one swing.

Gomez hit a tiebreaking grand slam off Schilling in the eighth inning to give the Blue Jays their first home victory of the season, 7-3, over Boston on Thursday night.

Gomez drove in five runs to help the Blue Jays end a five-game losing streak and improve to 1-8 at home.

“It’s just nice to win a game. I don’t care where it is,” Toronto Manager Carlos Tosca said.

At 4-11, the Blue Jays are off to their worst start ever.

Gomez hit his first career grand slam after Schilling (2-1) gave up singles to Carlos Delgado and Eric Hinske and walked Orlando Hudson. The homer gave Toronto its first lead at home since Delgado hit a three-run homer in the first inning April 7.

Baltimore 7, Tampa Bay 6 -- Rafael Palmeiro hit a long overdue homer at Camden Yards in Baltimore, and Miguel Tejada had a season-high three RBIs to lead the Orioles.

Palmeiro brought Baltimore to within 6-5 by leading off the sixth with his second home run of the season.

It was his 102nd homer at Camden Yards, the most by any player, but his first since May 23, 1999, when he played for Texas.

Cleveland 5, Kansas City 4 -- Omar Vizquel’s 2,000th hit helped set up the Indians’ three-run rally in the eighth inning at Cleveland in a victory over the Royals.

Vizquel became the 230th player to reach 2,000 hits when he singled off Jason Grimsley (1-1) in the eighth. Three batters later, D.J. Carrasco gave up Victor Martinez’s game-winning RBI double for the Indians.

Minnesota 4, Detroit 3 -- Fill-in Lew Ford kept up his strong hitting with a three-run homer at Minneapolis, and Johan Santana picked up his first victory.

Oakland 8, Seattle 2 -- Eric Chavez hit a three-run homer and Mark Mulder worked six strong innings at Seattle to lead the Athletics to a split of the four-game series.

Chicago 4, New York 3 -- Joe Crede homered at Chicago and the White Sox sent Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina to his fourth loss in five starts.