Orioles Get Past Wells, Red Sox

Eli Marrero and Melvin Mora hit home runs, and Sammy Sosa drove in a run for the first time since June 19, leading the Baltimore Orioles past David Wells and the Boston Red Sox, 3-1, Thursday night at Baltimore in a game called after six innings because of rain.

The Orioles’ third victory in 12 games pulled them to within three games of the first-place Red Sox in the East Division. Rain pelted the sellout crowd of 47,389 throughout much of the game, and the umpires stopped play after the sixth inning. After a delay of an hour, the game was called.

Wells (6-5) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings. The left-hander was 4-0 in eight starts since May 18, and the Red Sox were 7-0 in his starts since May 29, when Wells switched his uniform number from 3 to 16.

Baltimore’s Rafael Palmeiro, who entered with a .178 batting average against Wells, was hitless in three at-bats to remain seven hits shy of becoming the fourth player in major league history with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.

New York 7, Cleveland 2 -- At Yankee Stadium, Jason Giambi homered for the third game in a row to help the Yankees extend their winning streak to five games.

Alex Rodriguez homered for the second consecutive game, tying Boston’s Manny Ramirez and Texas’ Mark Teixeira for the league lead with 22. Giambi has hit four of his nine home runs, two doubles and a single in his last 10 at-bats.

Kansas City 8, Minnesota 5 -- Jose Lima won for the second time in 18 starts, leading the Royals past the Twins at Kansas City, Mo. Lima (2-8), who went 6 2/3 innings, limited the Twins to three runs and eight hits to help the Royals win three in a row for the first time since June 11-16.

Angel Berroa, who had four hits in five at-bats, is 11 for 18 and has hit in five in a row since Manager Buddy Bell dropped him in the batting order. He had been batting first or second but now is alternating between sixth and seventh.

Toronto 4, Oakland 2 -- At Toronto, Vernon Wells hit a three-run homer to help the Blue Jays win for the sixth time in eight games and hand the A’s only their fourth loss in 18 games.

Wells hit a two-out homer off Rich Harden (5-4), giving Toronto a 3-2 lead. He entered the game batting .222 with runners in scoring position -- .154 with runners in scoring position with two out.

Detroit 6, Tampa Bay 4 -- Magglio Ordonez homered for the third time since coming off the disabled list last week, helping the Tigers extend the Devil Rays’ losing streak to a season-high nine games. Chris Shelton hit a two-run homer to back Sean Douglass (2-0), who gave up three runs and five hits in five innings at St. Petersburg, Fla.