American League Roundup: Surging A’s rip Tigers

Oakland rolls, 12-3, for 11th straight victory

? Ray Durham hit two triples and David Justice, Eric Chavez and Terrence Long homered as the Oakland Athletics won their 11th straight game, defeating the Detroit Tigers 12-3 Saturday night.

Tim Hudson (11-9) won with his third complete game of the season. The Athletics stretched their lead in the AL West to two games over Seattle and Anaheim.

The A’s also won 11 in a row last season. The last time the Athletics won more than 11 straight was 1988, when they set an Oakland record with a 14-game winning streak.

The Athletics jumped on Jose Lima (4-6) for 11 runs in 2 2-3 innings as the Tigers lost their fourth straight game.

Durham led off the game with a triple and scored on Scott Hatteberg’s sacrifice fly. Miguel Tejada then doubled and scored on Jermaine Dye’s one-out single. Justice homered over the right-field fence to make it 4-0.

Detroit came back in the bottom of the first with a two-run single by Rob Fick to make it 4-2.

Oakland added four more in the second on Tejada’s RBI single and Chavez’s 30th homer, a three-run shot.

The Athletics added three runs in the third inning on Durham’s two-run triple and an RBI single by Hatteberg.

Hudson allowed eight hits while walking one and striking out seven.

Detroit’s Randall Simon made it 11-3 in the third with his 16th home run. But Hudson then retired 11 straight batters before Shane Halter singled to lead off the seventh.

Angels 2, Red Sox 0

Boston Kevin Appier (12-9) and three relievers combined on a five-hitter and the Anaheim Angels beat the Boston Red Sox 2-0 on Saturday.

Boston’s Manny Ramirez singled and doubled, extending his streak of reaching base to 14 straight plate appearances, before he flied out in the sixth inning.

Ramirez fell two short of the major league record of 16 set by Ted Williams in 1957.

Tim Wakefield (7-5) took the loss, giving up two runs one earned and eight hits in seven innings.

Indians 5, Mariners 3

Cleveland Karim Garcia hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. Rookie Josh Bard also homered for the Indians. Terry Mulholland (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.

White Sox 5, Devil Rays 2

Chicago Frank Thomas, Carlos Lee and Joe Crede all homered as the Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-2. Dan Wright (9-11) matched his career high with eight strikeouts.

Yankees 3, Rangers 2

New York Roger Clemens earned his 291st career victory and Jason Giambi hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning.

Clemens (11-4) gave up Alex Rodriguez’s major league-leading 45th home run in the first inning, then held the Rangers in check through the seventh.

Clemens struck out nine. Steve Karsay pitched the last two innings for his seventh save.

Blue Jays 4-8, Orioles 1-3

Baltimore Chris Woodward and Vernon Wells homered to back a solid pitching performance by Esteban Loaiza as the Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-3 for a doubleheader sweep.

Josh Phelps had three hits and scored twice for the Blue Jays.

In the opener, Pete Walker pitched seven innings of four-hit ball as the Blue Jays ended Baltimore’s four-game winning streak with a 4-1 victory.