Park Back to Winning for Rangers

Chan Ho Park had good reason to smile Thursday. He pitched six innings in his return from the disabled list to help the Texas Rangers defeat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3, at Arlington, Texas.

“It was great,” said Park, who has only 13 wins since signing a $65-million, five-year contract with Texas before the 2002 season. “I understand there has been a lot of disappointment from the fans. I had so much fun today.”

Park (3-4) gave up two runs and four hits to win for the first time since May 12 against Tampa Bay. He struck out four and walked three. The 31-year-old right-hander was put on the disabled list May 20 because of a sore back.

Park, who had not won at home since Sept. 12, 2002, had been on the disabled list five times since joining the Rangers. He never was disabled in six seasons with the Dodgers.

Hank Blalock homered for the fifth time in six games, and Texas equaled its win total from last year, 71. Blalock and Alfonso Soriano each had three runs batted in for the Rangers, who are 2 1/2 games behind West-leading Oakland. Texas remained two games behind Boston in the wild-card race.

Terry Mulholland (4-7) gave up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings for the Central-leading Twins.

*

Oakland 9, Baltimore 4 -- Erubiel Durazo hit a three-run homer, and Eric Chavez had a solo shot for the Athletics, who completed a four-game sweep of the slumping Orioles at Oakland.

Barry Zito won for the third time in four starts, and the West leaders earned their ninth win in 10 games. Scott Hatteberg had a three-run double for Oakland, which swept the season series, 7-0.

The Orioles have lost 10 in a row, their longest skid since ending the 2002 season with 12 losses. It was a frustrating return for shortstop Miguel Tejada, who had one hit in 15 at-bats in the series.

*

Chicago 14, Cleveland 9 -- Carl Everett homered and drove in four runs at Cleveland to lead the White Sox to only their second victory in eight games.

Ben Davis had a two-run homer and Juan Uribe a solo shot for Chicago, which tied the Indians for second place in the Central. Paul Konerko had three hits and three RBIs. Uribe and Ross Gload each had three of Chicago’s 16 hits.

Coco Crisp, Ben Broussard and Josh Phelps hit solo homers, and Ronnie Belliard had a two-run shot for Cleveland, which lost for the 10th time in 11 games.

*

New York 7, Toronto 4 -- Alex Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the ninth inning off Jason Frasor (4-4) as the Yankees overcame a 4-0 deficit at Toronto and remained 5 1/2 games ahead of second-place Boston in the East. New York has won seven times this season in games it trailed by four runs or more.

Rodriguez entered the at-bat hitting only .197 (23 for 117) with runners in scoring position. He grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the fifth, falling to 0 for 10 with the bases full this season.

C.J. Nitkwoski (1-1) got two outs in the eighth for his first win with the Yankees. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his major league-leading 44th save.

*

Boston 4, Detroit 1 -- Bronson Arroyo (7-9) gave up only an unearned run and six hits in 7 1/3 innings at Boston, and the Red Sox won for the ninth time in 10 games to improve to a season-best 20 games over .500.

Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his 24th save, completing a six-hitter.

Jason Johnson (8-12) gave up three runs -- two earned -- and nine hits in five innings. Boston scored in the first inning on David Ortiz’s run-scoring double and took the lead for good at 2-1 on Dave Roberts’ sacrifice fly in the fourth.

*

Kansas City 7, Seattle 3 -- Ichiro Suzuki homered for his 200th hit of the season, but Abraham Nunez hit his second grand slam in two weeks to lead the Royals at Seattle.

Suzuki became the first player to reach 200 hits in each of his first four major league seasons when he sent the first pitch from reliever Jeremy Affeldt over the right-center fence in the ninth inning.