Zito, Chavez Pace the A’s

Eric Chavez hit a three-run homer, and Barry Zito won for the third time in four starts in the Athletics’ 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night at Oakland.

The A’s ended a five-game homerless drought and won their third in a row and fourth in five. Several Oakland players were dealing with minor muscle aches after playing 27 innings in 27 hours the previous two days, including Sunday’s 18-inning victory in Minnesota.

It was Chavez’s 21st homer this season and eighth since coming off the disabled list July 9 after sitting out more than a month because of a broken right hand. Chavez came in batting .385 lifetime with two homers against Johnson.

Zito (8-8), who had his season-best winning streak end at three with a 5-1 loss to the Yankees on Thursday in New York, got through the first inning in 12 pitches with two strikeouts.

He didn’t let a baserunner past second until Dmitri Young doubled leading off the fourth.

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Seattle 4, Minnesota 3 -- Edgar Martinez homered in his first game since announcing he will retire at the end of this season, and Gil Meche pitched two-hit ball for eight innings at Seattle.

The first-place Twins lost their third in a row and fifth in six games.

Both runs off Meche (2-5) came on home runs. Corey Koskie homered in the fifth for the first hit off Meche, and pinch-hitter Lew Ford connected in the eighth.

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Texas 7, New York 1 -- Ryan Drese pitched seven shutout innings, and former Yankee Alfonso Soriano doubled twice and scored three times at Arlington, Texas.

David Dellucci, another former Yankee, and Mark Teixeira hit two-run homers to help the Rangers end a season-high four-game losing streak.

Kevin Brown (9-2) lost for the first time in six starts, turning in his worst performance since returning from the disabled list July 30.

Brown gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings. Both his losses this year have been to the Rangers.

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Chicago 9, Kansas City 3 -- Willie Harris was five for five, Carlos Lee hit a three-run homer and Paul Konerko hit a two-run shot at Chicago. Joe Crede also hit a two-run homer for Chicago, which won for only the fourth time in 16 games. Harris has reached base safely in nine consecutive plate appearances.

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Boston 8, Tampa Bay 4 -- Jason Varitek and Bill Mueller each had two hits and drove in a pair of runs to lead the Red Sox at Boston.

Varitek, Orlando Cabrera, Mueller and Kevin Youkilis -- the bottom four hitters in Boston’s lineup -- drove in two runs each.

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Cleveland 2, Toronto 0 -- Chad Durbin struck out a career-high seven and Ronnie Belliard hit a two-run double, leading the Indians at Cleveland.