Olerud's single supplies decisive margin for N.Y.

The Yankees improved to a season-high 34 games over .500.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- John Olerud hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth inning against his former team, and the New York Yankees overcame another mediocre start by Esteban Loaiza to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 Saturday.
After Loaiza wasted a three-run lead and fell behind 4-3, the Yankees tied the score in the seventh on consecutive doubles by Enrique Wilson and John Flaherty off Jamie Moyer.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa (4-5) hit Gary Sheffield with a pitch leading off the eighth, then allowed a double to deep center by Bernie Williams that put runners on second and third.
George Sherrill relieved and retired Hideki Matsui on a weak grounder to first, then intentionally walked Ruben Sierra to face Olerud, who singled to right field. Olerud, who batted .245 for Seattle with 22 RBIs in 78 games, is hitting .333 (11-for-33) with 11 RBIs in nine games with the Yankees.
Gary Sheffield and Williams homered for the Yankees (75-41), who won their fourth straight game to improve to a season-high 34 games over .500. The last-place Mariners (43-73) lost their third straight and dropped a season-low 30 games under.
Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter made an outstanding defensive play in the seventh to keep Seattle from taking a 5-4 lead. With two on and two outs, he dived to snare Dan Wilson's grounder up the middle and tossed to second for the forceout.
NEW YORKSEATTLE
abrhbiabrhbi
Cairo 3b4000ISuzuki rf4110
Jeter ss5110Winn cf4110
Shffield rf3212EMrtnz dh4021
BWllms cf5221JoCbra pr0000
Matsui lf3000BBoone 2b4001
Sierra dh3000Ibanez lf4021
Olerud 1b4012Jcbsen 1b5010
EWilsn 2b4120DWilsn c4010
Flherty c3021Leone 3b3010
Lopez ss4221
Totals34696Totals364114
New York201000120--6
Seattle001030000--4
E--EWilson (6). DP--New York 1. LOB--New York 7, Seattle 11. 2B--Jeter (29), BWilliams (20), EWilson (9), Flaherty (6), Lopez (1). HR--Sheffield (27), BWilliams (16), Lopez (1). SB--Jeter (17). CS--ISuzuki (9). S--Cairo. SF--BBoone, Ibanez.
IPHRERBBSO
New York
Loaiza5 1-374443
Nitkowski2-300000
Quantrill W,6-2120000
Gordon110001
MRivera S,40110000
Seattle
Moyer774412
Hasegawa L,4-5012200
Sherrill110010
Nageotte100011
Hasegawa pitched to 2 batters in the 8th. HBP--by Nageotte (Sheffield), by Hasegawa (Sheffield). WP--Loaiza. Umpires--Home, Alfonso Marquez; First, Ed Rapuano; Second, Ted Barrett; Third, Lance Barksdale. T--3:03. A--46,530.
Red Sox 4, White Sox 3
BOSTON -- David Ortiz's second homer of the game broke an eighth-inning tie, Curt Schilling got his first home win in seven weeks and the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox.
Manny Ramirez hit his 30th homer and is tied with Ortiz for the AL lead.
Schilling (14-6) gave up consecutive first-inning homers to Timo Perez and Carlos Lee but improved to 8-1 at Fenway Park, allowing three runs and five hits in eight innings. He had been 0-1 in three home starts since beating Philadelphia on June 27.
Keith Foulke finished with a hitless ninth for his 19th save in 24 chances.
Boston improved to 8-16 in one-run games, the worst record in the AL. Five of its previous six losses were by one run, including 8-7 against the White Sox on Friday night.
CHICAGOBOSTON
abrhbiabrhbi
WHarrs 2b4000Damon cf4010
TPerez rf4111Yukilis 3b4000
CaLee lf3221MRmrz lf4121
Knerko 1b3000DOrtiz dh3222
CEvrtt dh4020Millar 1b4110
Vlentin ss2001Mntkw 1b0000
Rwand cf4000Varitek c3021
BDavis c3000OCbera ss3000
Brchrd ph1000Mueller 2b2000
Crede 3b0000Kapler rf3010
Uribe 3b3000
Totals31353Totals30494
Chicago200001000--3
Boston00030001x--4
DP--Chicago 2. LOB--Chicago 6, Boston 5. 2B--CEverett 2 (4), MRamirez (33), Millar (24), Kapler (13). HR--TPerez (4), CaLee (22), MRamirez (30), DOrtiz 2 (30). SF--Valentin.
IPHRERBBSO
Chicago
Garland673334
Cotts2-310001
Adkins L,2-31 1-311101
Boston
Schilling W,14-6853323
Foulke S,19100012
HBP--by Schilling (Crede). Umpires--Home, Chris Guccione; First, Tim Tschida; Second, Joe Brinkman; Third, Marty Foster. T--2:34. A--35,012.
Athletics 6, Royals 1
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mark Kotsay made a run-saving catch to preserve a tie in the top of the sixth inning and then homered to lead off a five-run bottom half and help the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals.
Damian Miller went 3-for-3 with a three-run double, and Rich Harden (7-5) won his fourth straight decision as the first-place A's stopped a three-game losing streak.
Harden allowed one run and five hits in six innings to remain unbeaten in seven starts since the All-Star break. After the A's lost games started by aces Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder the previous two days, Harden got them back on the winning track.
KANSAS CITYOAKLAND
abrhbiabrhbi
Rlaford ss4010Kotsay cf4121
Randa 3b3000Byrnes lf4110
MiSwy 1b3000EChavz 3b4000
Harvey dh3000Dye rf4110
Nunez cf4010Httberg 1b3100
Guiel lf4010DMiller c3233
RMateo rf4000Durazo dh3021
Gotay 2b3110Crosby ss4000
Buck c2011Scutaro 2b3011
Totals30151Totals326106
Kansas City001000000--1
Oakland01000500x--6
E--Randa (9). DP--Oakland 1. LOB--Kansas City 6, Oakland 6. 2B--Guiel (3), Gotay (3), Kotsay (24), Byrnes (26), DMiller (21), Durazo (24). HR--Kotsay (11).
IPHRERBBSO
Kansas City
BriAnderson L,2-105 1-355433
Sullivan1 2-331110
Kinney120002
Oakland
Harden W,7-5651145
Mecir100000
Lehr100000
Dotel100001
Umpires--Home, Brian Gorman; First, Dale Scott; Second, Ron Kulpa; Third, Bill Miller. T--2:30. A--36,942.
Blue Jays 7, Orioles 2
TORONTO -- Josh Towers beat his former team to win for the sixth time in seven starts, and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles to stop a four-game losing streak.
Towers (8-4) allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings, improving to 16-5 in 27 career games with Toronto. The 27-year-old right-hander was 8-10 for Baltimore in 2001, but then went 0-3 on 2002 and was let go.
Justin Speier and Kerry Ligtenberg finished with hitless relief.
Carlos Delgado went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for the Blue Jays, 2-4 since John Gibbons replaced the fired Carlos Tosca as manager.
BALTIMORETORONTO
abrhbiabrhbi
BRbrts 2b4011Rios rf5010
Newhn rf4000OHudsn 2b5220
Mora 3b3010VWells cf5000
Tejada ss4000CDlgdo 1b4232
RPlmo 1b4010Ctlnotto dh2110
JvLopz c4100Mnchno dh2110
Gbbons dh4000Hinske 3b5011
Bigbie lf4131Zaun c4120
Hrst Jr cf2000Gross lf3011
Gomez ss3022
Totals33262Totals387146
Baltimore010000100--2
Toronto01112020x--7
E--Tejada (17), RPalmeiro (7), OHudson (10). DP--Baltimore 2. LOB--Baltimore 6, Toronto 11. 2B--BRoberts (38), Mora (27), OHudson 2 (19), CDelgado (17), Catalanotto (19), Zaun (20), Gross (2). HR--CDelgado (18). SB--Rios (8). CS--Bigbie (3), Gomez (1).
IPHRERBBSO
Baltimore
Borkowski L,3-3484412
Parrish223333
Groom120001
Williams120001
Toronto
Towers W,8-46 2-362213
Speier1 1-300002
Ligtenberg100001
Borkowski pitched to 1 batter in the 5th, Parrish pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. HBP--by Towers (Hairston Jr.). WP--Parrish. Umpires--Home, Terry Craft; First, Paul Emmel; Second, Mike DiMuro; Third, Joe West. T--2:59. A--35,768.
Rangers 6, Devil Rays 5
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Kevin Mench hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning and Gary Matthews Jr. added a solo shot to lead the Texas Rangers over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Doug Brocail (2-1) relieved starter Mike Bascik to the start the fifth inning and allowed two unearned runs that tied the score 5-all but got the win. Brian Shouse, Frank Francisco, Carlos Almanzar and Francisco Cordero combined with four innings of one-hit relief, with Cordero getting three outs for his 35th save in 37 chances, his 15th in a row.
Mench's homer off Franklin Nunez (0-1) scored the decisive run for Texas, which remained 11/2 games behind Oakland in the AL West one game back of Boston in the wild-card race.
TAMPA BAYTEXAS
abrhbiabrhbi
Crwfrd lf5000ASrano 2b5000
Lugo 2b4200EYong dh5110
Upton ss4220MYong ss4011
Huff dh3122Txeira 1b3120
JoCruz rf3021Mench lf3211
TMrtnz 1b1001BJordn rf3112
Rolls 1b0000Perry 3b1000
Cantu 3b4011Blalock 3b1000
THall c4010Mathws cf4121
Gthrght cf4020Laird c3001
Totals325105Totals32686
Tampa Bay201020000--5
Texas03021000x--6
E--Upton (3), Perry (2). DP--Texas 2. LOB--Tampa Bay 6, Texas 8. 2B--JoCruz (16), Teixeira (23), BJordan (8). 3B--MYoung (7). HR--Mench (16), Matthews (9). CS--Crawford (14), Gathright (1). S--JoCruz. SF--Huff, Laird.
IPHRERBBSO
Tampa Bay
Halama3 2-355531
Nunez L,0-11 1-321103
Colome1 2-310010
TreMiller000010
LCarter1 1-300001
Texas
Bacsik473302
Brocail W,2-1122010
BShouse2-300000
Francisco1 1-300013
Almanzar100000
FCordero S,35110000
TreMiller pitched to 1 batter in the 7th, Francisco pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. HBP--by Bacsik (TMartinez), by Bacsik (Lugo). Umpires--Home, Bruce Dreckman; First, Larry Poncino; Second, Gerry Davis; Third, Greg Gibson. T--2:47. A--38,620.