American League Roundup: Mariners belt Bosox
Cirillo's two-run single propels Seattle, 6-3
Boston ? Having the best record in the majors doesn’t mean the Boston Red Sox are better than the Seattle Mariners.
Jeff Cirillo’s two-run single broke a sixth-inning tie and reliever Ryan Franklin held the Red Sox scoreless for four innings as the Mariners won 6-3 Friday night in the opener of a three-game series between the teams with the top records.
Twins outfielder Jacque Jones fails to catch a three-run home run by Alfonso Soriano of the Yankees during the fourth inning Friday at Yankee Stadium. New York won, 13-12.
“Nobody’s really thinking about it,” Seattle’s Mike Cameron said. “We’ve played pretty much all the top teams, and they’ve played Tampa Bay.”
The Red Sox (27-11) are 4-4 against teams with winning records and 6-0 against Tampa Bay, which began the night at 12-27. The Mariners (29-12) are 16-7 against teams above .500.
“It’s great when you come into Fenway and you’re playing the Sox,” Desi Relaford said, “but the bottom line is you’ve got to get a win. It doesn’t matter who it is.”
If the Mariners win Saturday, when they face Pedro Martinez, they would pass the Red Sox for the best record.
“Every series is important, but this gives you a good idea of where you stand as a team,” Boston’s Tony Clark said.
In their last 16 games, the Red Sox are 12-4, but 1-3 against Seattle, which tied a major league record with 116 wins last year.
Seattle overcame a 3-0 deficit on Ichiro Suzuki’s two-run double in the fourth and a three-run sixth capped by the bases-loaded hit by Cirillo, whose error led to a run that had put Boston ahead.
Their sixth run scored on Ben Davis’ sacrifice fly in the seventh off Rolando Arrojo (2-1). He replaced Darren Oliver with the Red Sox leading 3-2 after five, and he allowed four runs in 213 innings.
Oliver had a cold and is scheduled to pitch Tuesday on three days’ rest in place of Frank Castillo, serving a five-game suspension for hitting Tampa Bay’s Randy Winn with a pitch May 5.
“The last couple of innings he pitched, it was pretty much all heart that he was pitching with because he was gassed,” Red Sox manager Grady Little said.
Franklin (4-1) took over for John Halama with the score 3-0 and two outs in the fourth and allowed three hits in four innings. Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 12 chances.
“The story tonight was the way Franklin pitched,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said.
Seattle, in first place in the AL West, improved to 11-3 in its last 14 games as it tied the major league mark for best road record after 20 games (17-3). Six teams did it previously but none since Detroit in 1984.
“We come on the road and it’s like we’re at home,” Relaford said, “or like we should be at home” where the Mariners are 12-9.
The Red Sox led 3-0 after three innings with two unearned runs as the Mariners made three errors. Boston scored twice in the first on Brian Daubach’s two-run double after an error by first baseman John Olerud and a walk to Nomar Garciaparra. One run was unearned.
Angels 8, White Sox 4
Chicago Scott Spiezio homered and drove in three runs to lead the Anaheim Angels to their eighth straight win.
Anaheim, on its second eight-game winning streak since April 24, won for the 17th time in 19 games. At 23-16, the Angels are seven games over .500 for the first time since last August.
Scott Schoeneweis (3-4) won despite allowing four runs and nine hits in five innings. Al Levine pitched two innings for his fourth save in six chances.
Jon Garland (4-3) forced in the tying and go-ahead runs with consecutive bases-loaded walks.
Spiezio had an RBI single in a three-run fifth off Garland (4-3) and a two-run homer in the eighth against Bob Howry, his second home run of the year. Troy Glaus added a solo homer in the eighth off Keith Foulke.
Royce Clayton’s 69-game errorless streak ended when he made a bad throw on Glaus’s first inning grounder to shortstop.
Tigers 6, Rangers 3
Detroit Robert Fick homered twice, and Dmitri Young and Wendell Magee also connected.
Young hit a two-run homer in the first off Dave Burba (3-1), Magee hit a solo shot in the second and Fick had another solo shot in the third. Fick added a two-run homer in the eighth off John Rocker for the second multihomer game of his career. He has five home runs this season.
Blue Jays 7, Athletics 1
Toronto Roy Halladay won his second straight start against Oakland and Shannon Stewart hit a three-run homer.
Halladay (4-1) allowed one run and seven hits in 723 innings.
Mark Mulder (2-3) allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings in his second start since a stint on the disabled list caused by a strained left forearm. In his previous start, Mulder gave up six runs and eight hits in 413 innings against Toronto.
Orioles 5, Devil Rays 3
Baltimore Jeff Conine hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning, and Geronimo Gil drove in three runs.
After two rain delays totaling nearly 212 hours, the game ended with only a small portion of the announced crowd of 36,914 still in the stands.
Yankees 13, Twins 12,
14 innings
New York Jason Giambi hit a grand slam through the rain in the 14th inning.
The Yankees hit six homers, including a tying solo shot by Bernie Williams with one out in the ninth. But New York stranded nine runners in the first four extra innings and gave up three runs in the 14th before winning in the bottom half.
Shane Spencer led off with a single against Mike Trombley (0-1) and Derek Jeter singled with one out. Williams walked to bring up Giambi. Giambi hit a shot into the right-center field bleachers.