Boston ? Mark Mulder struggled early and Miguel Tejada’s hitting streak ended at 24 games. Still, the Oakland Athletics kept winning.

Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer and Olmedo Saenz added a two-run shot to lead the A’s to a 9-1 win against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night, Oakland’s fifth in six games.

Mulder (13-6) allowed runners in five of six innings but benefited from poor clutch hitting by Boston, which stranded 10 runners against him. The left-hander is 11-2 in his last 14 starts.

“After the third inning I started to settle down, relax and not throw so hard,” he said. “I might have hit a few guys and walked a few guys but I made my pitches when I had to.”

Mulder struck out three, allowed four walks and five hits and hit Trot Nixon with two pitches. But after Manny Ramirez’s RBI double gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first, the Red Sox left the bases loaded in the first and fourth.

“You can’t let a pitcher like that off the hook,” Boston’s Brian Daubach said. “If we scored some runs early, it might have been different.”

Tejada went 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly in the eighth and fell one game short of the Oakland record 25-game hitting streak set by Jason Giambi in 1997.

“I don’t worry about that,” Tejada said. “I don’t play this game for myself. I knew one day it was going to stop and today was the day.”

The 24-game streak is the second-longest in the majors this year, behind the 35-game streak of Florida’s Luis Castillo. And it’s the longest in the AL since Gabe Kapler had a 28-game streak in 2000.

The A’s, whose 45-22 record is the AL’s best since May 24, closed within one game of the Red Sox in the wild card race. Anaheim leads Boston by 11/2 games and Oakland by 21/2.

Oakland was 20-26 on May 23 and trailed Seattle by 10 games in the AL West.

“If you’re going to go to the playoffs it doesn’t matter how you start,” Hernandez said. “It’s how you finish.”

Tim Wakefield (5-4) permitted two singles in the first four innings before struggling with his knuckleball. He allowed Hernandez’s homer in the fifth and Saenz’s homer in the sixth, the sixth for each.

“I made two bad pitches,” Wakefield said.

Oakland added three runs in the seventh without hitting the ball out of the infield with a single, four walks and a hit batsman.

Cliff Floyd went 0-for-3 with a walk in his Fenway Park debut with the Red Sox after going 7-for-13 in his first four games with Boston.

Blue Jays 14, Mariners 12

Toronto Rookie Orlando Hudson homered and had a career-high four hits as Toronto built an 11-run lead, then hung on to beat Seattle. Hudson went 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs for the Blue Jays, who had a 20 hits, their most since getting 20 at Minnesota on Aug. 13, 2000.

Shannon Stewart and Eric Hinske each went 4-for-5, and Stewart and Hinske hit consecutive triples in a six-run sixth. Rookie Josh Phelps homered and had three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who have won three straight and six of eight.

Indians 4, Devil Rays 2

Cleveland Charles Nagy won at Jacobs Field for the first time in more than a year and Jim Thome hit his 33rd home run to lead Cleveland past Tampa Bay. Nagy (1-2), who has pitched the past two years without any cartilage in his right elbow, allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings for his first home win since July 21 last season.

Tigers 8, Rangers 2

Detroit Steve Sparks struck out eight in his third complete game of the season, and Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer as Detroit beat Texas. Shane Halter added a solo shot for the Tigers, who won for only the second time in 10 games and snapped a three-game losing streak. Sparks (6-11) allowed seven hits and walked one in his 16th career complete game.

Orioles 9, Twins 2

Baltimore Luis Lopez’s second career grand slam highlighted a six-run seventh inning that carried Baltimore past Minnesota. After Marty Cordova gave the Orioles a 3-2 lead with a sixth-inning homer off emergency starter Johan Santana, Baltimore sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh to turn the game into a rout.

Angels 11, White Sox 2

Chicago Tim Salmon drove in five runs, four with a grand slam during a six-run fourth inning, and Anaheim beat Chicago. Anaheim closed within 11/2 games of AL West-leading Seattle and moved 11/2 games in front of Boston in the AL wild-card race. Brad Fullmer added a solo homer for the Angels, and Darin Erstad drove in two runs.