Kansas City topped Texas 6-5 in 11 innings Thursday night when Mike Sweeney singled up the middle to score Joe Randa, who had singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. The Royals moved percentage points ahead of the Sox in the Central.
Alex Rodriguez homered in the eighth and ninth, the second tying the game at 5-5, to tie him with Barry Bonds for the major-league lead with 39.
Meanwhile, Jacque Jones hit a two-run homer, leading Kyle Lohse and Minnesota over host Anaheim 6-1. Lohse (11-10) won for the fifth time in six starts, allowing a run on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. He stranded four runners in scoring position.
Yankees’ Wells out of rotation?
David Wells’ poor pitching has jeopardized his place in the Yankees’ rotation.
A day after pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre criticized Wells for not throwing enough between starts, manager Joe Torre repeatedly refused to say whether the 40-year-old left-hander, who is winless in six starts since July 19, would take his next turn, on Monday at Toronto.
“He hasn’t been throwing in between starts, and it’s showing,” Stottlemyre said. “I think he needs some mound work, that’s my opinion.”
Wells said before Thursday’s game that he’s thrown more bullpen sessions than in previous years, and wouldn’t publicly respond to Stottlemyre, whose comments made back-page headlines.
“When I was here in 1998, I didn’t throw very many bullpens,” Wells said. “I’m not going to elaborate on it any more, because then it turns into a war of words.”
Mickelson a Mud Hen?
Golfer Phil Mickelson, whose 21 victories on the PGA Tour are the most in the modern era, is scheduled to have a tryout Friday with Toledo, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tigers, with hopes of pitching this weekend.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
RESULTS, SYNOPSIS
Baltimore 4 at Oakland 6
W: Halama (3-4)
L: Lopez (6-9)
S: Foulke (35)
Adam Melhuse hit 3-run HR to cap 4-run 1st. John Halama (1st win since May 8) pitched into 7th as A’s won 6th straight. Orioles’ Tim Raines Jr. had 1st major league RBI on 7th-inning triple.
Minnesota 6 at Anaheim 1
W: Lohse (11-10)
L: Ortiz (15-11)
Anaheim got its only run in 3rd on Garret Anderson’s RBI single. Kyle Lohse 5-1 with 3.83 ERA in August after 0-3, 11.51 ERA in July. Ramon Ortiz 2-11 when Angels score fewer than 5 runs.
Tampa Bay 3 at Seattle 2
W: Harper (3-7)
L: Hasegawa (1-1)
S: Carter (22)
Toby Hall’s 9th-inning HR gave manager Lou Piniella 60th birthday present, handed his ex-team its 8th loss in 9 games. Bret Boone tied game 2-2 with solo shot in 8th. Ichiro 1-for-12 in series.
Detroit 3 at Cleveland 8
W: Lee (3-1)
L: Bonderman (6-18)
Rookie Jody Gerut had 2 HRs, 17th and 18th, career-high 5 RBIs to hand Tigers their 99th loss. Carlos Pena, Shane Halter hit solo HRs for Detroit, giving them 20 solo shots in their last 28 HRs.
Texas 5 at Kansas City 6
W: Carrasco (6-4)
L: Ramirez (3-1)
Game delayed in the bottom of the 6th for 1 hour 42 minutes. Hank Blalock’s 2-out single in 3rd only hit off Paul Abbott before delay. Alex Rodriguez made just 6th error on throw in 6th.
