Ten-Run Inning Carries Devil Rays

Tampa Bay Manager Lou Piniella never had a first inning like this.

Carl Crawford tripled and homered during a 10-run first, and Scott Kazmir won his second straight start as the Devil Rays beat the Oakland Athletics, 14-6, Wednesday night at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tampa Bay set a team record for runs scored in the first inning and was one shy of the club mark for any frame, set in the eighth inning of a 14-4 win over Seattle on May 28, 2000.

“That was as fine a first inning as I’ve ever seen,” Piniella said.

Crawford finished with three RBIs in his first multihit game since May 9.

Kazmir (2-4), a 21-year-old left-hander acquired from the New York Mets last summer, gave up two runs -- one earned -- and seven hits in six innings.

Oakland, which held a players-only meeting before batting practice, has lost four straight and 13 of 16.

“I guess you could say it didn’t work,” third baseman Eric Chavez said.

At 17-28, the Athletics fell 11 games under .500 for the first time since finishing the 1998 season 74-88.

Joe Blanton (0-5) gave up eight runs -- seven earned -- six hits and a walk in one-third of an inning. Tampa Bay’s first eight hitters reached against Blanton.

N.Y. Yankees 4, Detroit 2 -- Derek Jeter made a spectacular tumbling catch in the seventh inning to protect Chien-Ming Wang’s lead and Alex Rodriguez had a go-ahead RBI double for the Yankees at New York.

With runners on first and second with one out in the seventh, Marcus Thames hit a fly into shallow center field. Running with his back to the plate, Jeter banged into second baseman Robinson Cano, reached over his shorter teammate to make the catch and fell to the ground with the ball.

The Yankees (25-21) won for the 14th time in 16 games.

Wang (3-1) lasted 6 1/3 innings, giving up both runs and five hits. Mariano Rivera earned his 10th save.

Cleveland 3, Minnesota 2 -- Travis Hafner’s bloop single scored pinch-runner Ronnie Belliard from second with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Indians a victory at Cleveland.

Bob Howry (3-1), one of four relievers the Indians brought in after starter Kevin Millwood left because of a groin injury in the fifth, got the win.

Baltimore 3, Seattle 1 -- Rodrigo Lopez pitched eight innings of five-hit ball to end a run of seven starts without a win and Rafael Palmeiro homered to lead the Orioles past Jamie Moyer (4-2) and the Mariners at Baltimore.

B.J. Ryan worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save. Moyer retired 17 straight batters between the second and eighth innings.

Toronto 6, Boston 1 -- Ted Lilly, Vinnie Chulk and Justin Speier combined on a four-hitter at Toronto to help the Blue Jays hand Bronson Arroyo his first loss in 18 starts.

Texas 7, Kansas City 3 -- Richard Hidalgo homered for the fourth time in four games, Pedro Astacio (2-5) pitched seven solid innings and the host Rangers won their fifth straight game and moved into a tie for first place with the Angels in the AL West.