Monroe Is Again the Right Choice for Tigers

Craig Monroe challenged Tim Hudson in a 13-pitch at-bat last season and wound up with a home run, one reason Tiger Manager Alan Trammell included Monroe in Thursday’s lineup.

It was a good call.

Monroe homered and drove in three runs at Oakland, and Rondell White hit a tiebreaking shot in the sixth inning of Detroit’s 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Mike Maroth (9-7) pitched seven solid innings to win his fourth consecutive decision.

Monroe, who homered two batters after White, had a run-scoring double in the fourth that tied the score at 2-2 and an eighth-inning single to score Dmitri Young. Monroe hasn’t forgotten about that long at-bat against Hudson.

“It was the best at-bat of my career,” he said. “It’s a memorable one, to have that kind of at-bat against a pitcher of that caliber. I feel confident about being up there against him.”

Justin Duchscherer (4-4) relieved Hudson to start the sixth and got into trouble in a hurry. After Young popped out, White connected for his 17th home run to give Detroit a 3-2 lead, hitting the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center for his second homer in two days.

Carlos Pena followed White with a hard-hit ball to right field that Jermaine Dye jumped to catch against the wall, then Monroe hit his sixth homer.

Maroth gave up two runs and eight hits, struck out three and didn’t walk a batter. Ugueth Urbina gave up a solo homer to Damian Miller in the ninth, then finished for his 19th save in 21 opportunities.

“I’m very happy. It’s big to win a series, which we haven’t done in a while, and beat a team in first place,” said Trammell, whose team has won only three of its last 10 games. “We were efficient and got big hits.”

New York 5, Texas 1 -- Orlando Hernandez won again with another excellent outing for the Yankees and Miguel Cairo hit his first career grand slam for the victory at Arlington, Texas.

Hernandez (5-0) has a 2.08 earned-run average in seven starts since rejoining the rotation a month ago. He re-signed with the Yankees in March and rehabilitated his shoulder in the minors for the first half of the season.

Hernandez gave up one run and four hits in seven innings, helping the Yankees clinch the season series, 5-4, against the Rangers.

Boston 6, Tampa Bay 0 -- Pedro Martinez struck out 10 in a six-hitter at Boston for his first shutout in almost four years and the Red Sox won for the fifth time in six games.

Martinez (13-4) walked none and passed Bob Feller and Warren Spahn for 21st place in career strikeouts with 2,590. He threw 109 pitches and extended his domination of Tampa Bay.

He also beat the Devil Rays in his previous shutout and complete game. He blanked them, 8-0, on Aug. 29, 2000, then went all nine innings in a 3-2 win last Sept. 16.

Cleveland 6, Toronto 2 -- Pinch-hitter Ben Broussard hit his second grand slam in four days, sending the Indians to a victory at Cleveland.

Broussard has three grand slams this season, including one Monday against the White Sox. He’s the fourth player in major league history with two pinch-hit grand slams in one season, joining Dave Johnson (1978), Mike Ivie (1978) and Darryl Strawberry (1998).

Batting for Josh Phelps, Broussard connected off Vinnie Chulk to highlight a five-run rally in the seventh. He’s six for nine with three grand slams and 21 RBIs with the bases loaded this season.

Minnesota 6, Seattle 3 -- Justin Morneau hit two home runs to spark the offense and the Twins ended a four-game losing streak by beating the Mariners at Seattle.

Johan Santana (12-6) pitched seven sharp innings and Joe Nathan closed for his 33rd save.

The Twins now head to Cleveland for a weekend series. The Twins lead the Indians by three games in the AL Central.

Chicago 3, Kansas City 2 -- Carl Everett and Ross Gload homered, and Freddy Garcia pitched six strong innings to lead the White Sox at Chicago in a game delayed twice by rain for 2 hours 20 minutes.

Garcia (10-9) gave up two runs, struck out seven and walked none. He is 6-2 in nine starts with the White Sox since being acquired from Seattle on June 27. Shingo Takatsu got his 10th save in 11 chances.