Kendall’s Drought Ends in A’s Victory

Jason Kendall hit his first home run in nearly two years and Frank Thomas hit No. 459 Wednesday in the Oakland Athletics’ 7-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Oakland.

Kendall’s two-run shot in the eighth inning was his first long ball in 247 games and 961 at-bats.

“I think the team was more excited than I was,” Kendall said. “It was good to get that out of the way. It’s not like I haven’t done it. I just haven’t done it in an A’s uniform.”

The stretch included 740 at-bats with Oakland since his last homer, July 27, 2004, for Pittsburgh.

Joe Blanton pitched a five-hitter for his first career shutout.

New York 6, Detroit 1 -- Mike Mussina threw his first complete game of the season at Detroit, taking a shutout into the ninth to lead the Yankees to their third straight victory over the Tigers.

Mussina settled for a six-hitter in winning his sixth straight decision. Alex Rodriguez went three for four and drove in two runs for the Yankees, who have won five in a row.

Cleveland 5, Chicago 0 -- Jake Westbrook shut out the White Sox for seven innings at Cleveland and the Indians’ bullpen didn’t give up a run for a second straight game.

Westbrook (5-3) allowed six hits -- five singles -- didn’t walk a batter and struck out five.

Grady Sizemore went three for four with two RBIs, a triple and a steal.

Boston 8, Toronto 6 -- David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez homered and rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon got his 19th save in as many chances to help the Red Sox avoid a three-game sweep at Toronto.

Baltimore 6, Tampa Bay 5 -- Melvin Mora singled in the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning, and the Orioles overcame three Devil Rays’ home runs and a 5-1 deficit at Baltimore.

Seattle 14, Texas 5 -- Raul Ibanez homered and drove in four runs to help the visiting Mariners end a losing streak at six games.