Delgado Rallies Blue Jays to Win

Carlos Delgado didn’t care that fans booed him after he popped out with the bases loaded in the first and second innings by swinging at the first pitch. He wasn’t about to change his approach.

Delgado hit a first-pitch fastball for a three-run homer in the ninth inning to rally the Toronto Blue Jays to a 10-8 victory over the struggling Seattle Mariners on Thursday night at Toronto.

“In the same game you’re terrible and you’re a hero,” Delgado said. “That’s their opinion. They can do what they want. Hopefully, we’ll have more people in here either cheering or booing. That’s something. That would be nice.”

A crowd of 16,188 saw Toronto complete a three-game sweep of the Mariners, who have lost six straight, matching their longest losing streak of the season.

Down, 8-6, in the ninth, Dave Berg hit the 13th pitch he saw for a homer off Eddie Guardado (2-1) with one out. Chris Gomez followed with a single, but Orlando Hudson struck out for the second out. Reed Johnson singled before Delgado homered into the second deck in right field.

“There’s no use crying. Yeah, I made some outs, but you can’t quit. I got a chance in the ninth and I made it count,” Delgado said.

Boston 8, Oakland 7 -- Bill Mueller’s two-out double in the 10th inning scored Johnny Damon with the winning run at Boston. Oakland has lost 16 of its last 22 road games.

Minnesota 7, Detroit 1 -- Cristian Guzman’s three-run homer capped a five-run seventh inning at Minneapolis. Ivan Rodriguez’s homer leading off the sixth ended the streak of 32 consecutive scoreless innings by Twin pitchers.

New York 7, Tampa Bay 1 -- Jose Contreras gave the Yankees a strong start and Derek Jeter drove home two runs with a pair of doubles at New York. Gary Sheffield hit a two-run homer and Hideki Matsui a two-run double for the Yankees, who had given up 49 runs in losing five of their last six games.

Texas 10, Cleveland 0 -- Ricardo Rodriguez pitched a three-hitter for his first career shutout and David Dellucci hit two of Texas’ four home runs at Cleveland.