Lopez Finishes Night to Remember for Sosa

After Sammy Sosa tied Frank Robinson for fifth place on the all-time home run list, Javy Lopez made sure the milestone shot was not for naught.

Sosa hit his 586th homer, Lopez broke a tie with an eighth-inning drive and the Baltimore Orioles ended a six-game skid by defeating the Texas Rangers, 5-4, Tuesday night at Baltimore.

“I believe that we’re going to pick it up,” Sosa said. “There’s still a long, long way to go and we still believe in ourselves.”

Sosa gave Baltimore a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning with his 12th homer, a two-run shot to center field. He was presented with the ball after the game and nonchalantly put it in his locker.

“Right now is no time to celebrate. It’s very nice to tie Frank Robinson, but there’s still a lot of baseball left,” Sosa said.

New York 4, Minnesota 0 -- Randy Johnson pitched two-hit ball for eight innings and struck out 11 at New York.

Johnson (11-6), who matched his season strikeout high, showed no signs of the minor back pain that caused the Yankees to cut short his start against the Angels last week. He hit Shannon Stewart with his second pitch of the game, then got Nick Punto to ground into a double play, getting 17 consecutive outs until Juan Castro bounced a single up the middle with two outs in the sixth.

Minnesota didn’t get another hit until Lew Ford’s double to left-center field with one out in the eighth.

Tom Gordon finished the Twins off with a hitless ninth inning.

Detroit 8, Seattle 5 -- Dmitri Young hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning at Seattle and tied his career high with five runs batted in.

Cleveland 2, Oakland 0 -- Grady Sizemore homered and Jake Westbrook out-dueled rookie Joe Blanton at Oakland, helping the Indians end the A’s seven-game winning streak.

Kansas City 7, Chicago 1 -- Mark Teahen hit a three-run double and scored on a throwing error in a six-run sixth inning at Kansas City, Mo., to help the Royals defeat the White Sox for the first time in their last 12 games against them.

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Home run leaders

*--* 1. Hank Aaron 1954-76 755 2. Babe Ruth 1914-35 714 3. Barry Bonds 1986- 703 4. Willie Mays 1951-73 660 5. Sammy Sosa 1989- 586 5. Frank Robinson 1956-76 586 7. Mark McGwire 1986-2001 583 8. Harmon Killebrew 1954-75 573 9. Rafael Palmeiro 1986- 568 10. Reggie Jackson 1967-87 563 11. Mike Schmidt 1972-89 548 12. Mickey Mantle 1951-68 536 13. Jimmie Foxx 1925-45 534 14. Ken Griffey 1989- 523 15. Willie McCovey 1959-80 521 15. Ted Williams 1939-60 521

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