Payton Trade Is Paying Off for A’s

After forcing his way out of Boston because he wasn’t playing enough, Jay Payton is making the most of his time in the Oakland lineup.

Payton helped keep a three-run deficit within reach by running into the left-field wall for a catch that ended the fourth inning Thursday night. He began Oakland’s comeback by leading off the fifth with a single that turned into the Athletics’ first run. He finished it by driving in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of a 6-4 victory over Texas at Arlington.

“I’m happy to be here, to be getting the opportunity to play games,” Payton said. “I guess since I yelled to get out of Boston, I better do OK or else it’s not going to look too good.”

Texas was ahead, 3-0, with ace Kenny Rogers pitching what might be his last game for a while when Mark Teixeira drove a ball into the left-center gap with runners on second and third and two out. Payton tracked it down and hung on as he slammed into the wall.

In the fifth, Rogers had retired eight batters in a row before Payton singled again leading off the inning and scored on Nick Swisher’s double. Then Swisher narrowly scored on a play at the plate and the A’s were within one.

Rogers is usually tough on Oakland, but he couldn’t protect the lead.

The question for Texas is when will he pitch again. He’ll go before Commissioner Bud Selig in Milwaukee today to appeal his 20-game suspension for shoving two cameramen. If no decision is made by Monday, the Rangers could try starting Rogers that night on three days’ rest, even though he threw 107 pitches Thursday.

However, even after Selig rules, the union could drag things out longer by taking the case to an arbitrator over the fact Selig issued the penalty instead of baseball’s head disciplinarian, Bob Watson.

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Boston 6, Chicago 5 -- Manny Ramirez homered in the ninth -- on the first pitch after White Sox third baseman Joe Crede dropped his foul pop up for an error -- sending the Red Sox to a victory at Chicago.

Curt Schilling (2-3) got his first victory as a reliever since 1992.

Minnesota 10, Detroit 5 -- Bret Boone and Michael Cuddyer drove in two runs apiece and Joe Mauer scored three in the Twins’ victory over the sloppy Tigers, who had four errors at Detroit.

Toronto 6, Seattle 3 -- Josh Towers (7-8) won for only the second time in 12 starts and Shea Hillenbrand hit a three-run homer as the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep of the Mariners at Toronto.

Cleveland 10, Kansas City 1 -- Jhonny Peralta and Victor Martinez hit three-run homers to lead Jake Westbrook (7-12) and the Indians to a victory over the Royals at Cleveland.