Seattle ? Kirk Saarloos gave the Oakland Athletics’ tired bullpen a day off, pitching a four-hitter for his second career shutout and leading Oakland over the Seattle Mariners, 5-0, Thursday.

“Hopefully, they were able to relax and have a fun day,” Saarloos said. “And I don’t think there’s a pitcher out there who is going to turn down a chance to have a complete game.”

Saarloos (4-4), a 26-year-old right-hander acquired from Houston in April 2004, tied his career high with seven strikeouts and walked none. His only previous complete game was a six-hit shutout for Houston over Pittsburgh on July 25, 2002.

In winning his third straight start, Saarloos threw 80 of 127 pitches for strikes.

“That’s why you put in the hard work during the offseason, to be able to go out and do something like this,” he said. “It was one of those days when everything fell into place, and they gave me some run support so I could just go out there and pitch.”

Oakland manager Ken Macha was grateful.

“Today, I was looking at the bullpen before the game started, and I didn’t know how much I had out there,” Macha said. “He stepped up big. That really was a huge pickup for the club.”

Richie Sexson struck out four times.

“If you’d have told me that before the game, I’d have been real pleased,” Saarloos said. “He’s a great hitter. It was just one of those days.”

Bouncing back from a 12-inning, 5-4 loss Wednesday night, the A’s won three of four against Seattle and won for the fifth time in six games overall. The last-place A’s are 6-3 against the Mariners this season.

Ryan Franklin (3-9) allowed five runs and 11 hits in 62â3 innings.

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki went hitless for the second straight game, going 0-for-4. He was 0-for-6 in the Mariners’ 13-inning, 5-4 victory Wednesday night.

Twins 6, Tigers 2

Minneapolis – Carlos Silva pitched his second complete game, working around nine hits and spurring Minnesota out of their slump.

The Twins took advantage of Jason Johnson’s bases-loaded wild pitch in the first and ended a four-game losing streak. Matthew LeCroy homered and drove in three runs as Minnesota won for only the fourth time in 13 games.

Silva (6-3) struck out two without a walk. Johnson (5-6) gave up six runs – five earned – and nine hits in 52â3 innings.

Devil Rays 9, Yankees 4

New York – Jorge Cantu hit a pair of two-run homers, and Tampa Bay won its first series at Yankee Stadium since Sept. 24-27, 1999, improving to 7-3 overall against New York this year.

Mark Hendrickson (3-4) won for the first time in five starts, allowing four runs and nine hits in 72â3 innings. With Tampa Bay ahead 6-4, Danys Baez got Ruben Sierra to hit into an inning-ending groundout with the bases loaded in the eighth and finished for his 12th save.

Chien-Ming Wang (4-3) allowed six runs – five earned – in six innings with three walks and a hit batter.

Blue Jays 6, Orioles 2

Toronto – Roy Halladay (11-4) allowed two runs and seven hits in eight innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. He had been 0-2 with a 7.43 earned-run average in two outings against the Orioles this year.

Orlando Hudson had three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who took three of four from the Orioles to move within 51â2 games of the AL East leaders.

Sidney Ponson (7-5) allowed six runs and 11 hits in 51â3 innings, raising his ERA to 5.42.