THREE UP
The Pirates’ Paul Maholm dominated the Giants in a 3-1 victory. He tossed a three-hit complete game, throwing 61 of his 91 pitches for strikes. “My stuff was probably as good as it’s been in the big leagues,” said Maholm, who also hit his first career double.
Tim Wakefield held the Devil Rays hitless into the seventh and wound up giving the Red Sox what they really needed: A win — any win — to stop their slide in the AL East. The knuckleballer allowed two hits over eight innings and improved to 18-2 against Tampa.
Placido Polanc o’s 144th straight game without an error set a major-league record for second baseman. Manager Jim Leyland: “He’s like an old shoe — not the prettiest, but real comfortable.” The record for any infielder is Steve Garvey’s 193 games. But with …
THREE DOWN
…. Detroit’s 7-2 loss to the A’s, the Tigers failed to win a series for the first time since sweeping Minnesota July 17-19. Since then, they are 8-17. Leyland: “If anybody thinks we’re going to win anything playing and pitching like this, they’re out of their minds.”
Baltimore tied it 6-6 in the top of the ninth against lights-out closer Mariano Rivera, but Chad Bradford couldn’t stop streaking New York. The Orioles reliever put two on with one out in the bottom half when he couldn’t bring in Derek Jeter’s game-winning tapper.
The Royals took advantage of three errors by the Blue Jays to win 6-2. Fielding errors by Aaron Hill and Lyle Overbay in the third inning scored two unearned runs as K.C. grabbed a 3-2 lead. Hector Luna misplayed a grounder to start the fifth, leading to another unearned run.
