AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP Orioles' Ponson blanks Yankees, 7-0

Boston also was an 8-6 loser against the Texas Rangers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Sidney Ponson pitched a two-hitter for his fourth career shutout, and Rafael Palmeiro hit one of the Baltimore Orioles' three homers Saturday in a 7-0 victory over the suddenly punchless New York Yankees.
Jay Gibbons and Brian Roberts also connected for the Orioles, who have won six in a row following a 12-game losing streak. Baltimore starters are 4-0 with a 0.61 ERA in the last four games.
Mike Mussina allowed just two runs in seven innings for the AL East-leading Yankees, his best outing since coming off the disabled list. But he couldn't quite match Ponson and has lost five consecutive decisions for the first time in his career.
The Orioles broke it open with five runs in the ninth, four charged to Mariano Rivera, who got only one out. Palmeiro hit his 543rd career homer off Rivera, and Larry Bigbie had an RBI single.
Ponson faced just 29 hitters, two more than the minimum, and did not allow a runner past first. In fact, the Yankees have advanced only one runner beyond first in their last 17 innings -- since the first inning of a 3-1 loss to Rodrigo Lopez and the Orioles on Friday night.
New York leads the AL East by only 21/2 games over Boston, which had its 10-game winning streak snapped Saturday with an 8-6 loss to Texas.
BALTIMORENEW YORK
abrhbiabrhbi
BRbrts 2b5233BWllms cf4000
Newhn lf4010Jeter ss4000
Raines cf1000Shffield rf3010
Mora 3b5021ARdrgz 3b3000
Tejada ss4000Matsui lf3000
RPlmo dh4111Sierra dh3000
JvLopz c4120Olerud 1b2000
Segui 1b4120Cairo 2b3010
Gbbons rf3111Flherty c2000
Bigbie cf4121Posada ph1000
Totals387147Totals28020
Baltimore001001005--7
New York000000000--0
DP--Baltimore 1, New York 1. LOB--Baltimore 5, New York 2. 2B--BRoberts (43). HR--BRoberts (3), RPalmeiro (15), Gibbons (9). CS--Segui (1). S--Gibbons.
IPHRERBBSO
Baltimore
Ponson W,10-13920014
New York
Mussina L,9-9772208
Gordon120000
MRivera1-344400
Prinz2-311100
Umpires--Home, Gary Darling; First, Mark Carlson; Second, Brian Runge; Third, Bill Hohn. T--2:35. A--48,963.
Rangers 8, Red Sox 6
BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox lost for the first time in 11 games, missing a chance to pull within 11/2 games of the Yankees in the AL East.
Michael Young hit a three-run homer and Rod Barajas went 3-for-4 with a two-run shot for Texas, which snapped a five-game losing streak.
The Red Sox, who had won 10 straight and 16 of 17 to climb from 101/2 games back in the AL East, remained 21/2 games behind the division-leading Yankees.
It was Boston's longest winning streak since capturing 12 straight Aug. 3-14, 1995, the year the Red Sox last won the AL East title. Since then, New York has won eight straight division crowns.
Texas pulled within six games of the Red Sox in the AL wild-card race.
Mark Bellhorn hit his second career grand slam and David Ortiz added a solo shot for Boston, which rallied from an 8-1 deficit with a five-run seventh.
TEXASBOSTON
abrhbiabrhbi
EYong dh4100DRbrts cf4110
MYong ss5113Bllhorn 2b5114
Blalock 3b5000MRmrz lf3010
Txeira 1b4110DOrtiz dh3111
ASrano 2b5110Millar rf3110
BJordn rf3110OCbera ss4000
Mench lf3131Mueller 3b4001
Nix cf4001Mrbelli c3100
Brajas c4233Mntkw 1b3100
Totals378108Totals32656
Texas030200300--8
Boston010000500--6
E--Blalock (14), Adams (2). DP--Texas 1, Boston 1. LOB--Texas 6, Boston 5. 2B--Mench (23), Millar (30). HR--MYoung (16), Barajas (15), Bellhorn (15), DOrtiz (34).
IPHRERBBSO
Texas
Young W,1-15 2-321125
JeNelson2-303340
Mahay1-322200
Brocail1 1-300001
FCordero S,42110001
Boston
Wakefield L,11-8688824
Adams1 1-320000
Mendoza100000
MMyers1-300000
Leskanic1-300010
Wakefield pitched to 3 batters in the 7th. HBP--by Wakefield (BJordan). WP--Wakefield. Umpires--Home, Jerry Crawford; First, Phil Cuzzi; Second, Rob Drake; Third, Brian O'Nora. T--3:16. A--34,670.
Twins 4, Royals 3
MINNEAPOLIS -- Terry Tiffee led off the bottom of the ninth with his first major league home run to lift Minnesota.
Tiffee, who joined the Twins when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, hit a 2-2 pitch from Dennys Reyes (3-8) over the left-field fence to give the Twins their fifth straight victory.
Tiffee went 3-for-4 and is hitting .462 since arriving in Minnesota.
Trailing 3-0 after one inning, the Royals steadily fought back and tied it in the eighth when Angel Berroa led off with a double and scored two outs later on a J.C. Romero wild pitch.
KANSAS CITYMINNESOTA
abrhbiabrhbi
DJesus cf4000Kubel lf4110
Berroa ss4220JJones rf4010
Nunez rf4000LFord cf1110
Stairs 1b4011Mrneau 1b4113
Pckerg dh2110Offrmn dh4000
Gomez dh0000CGzmn ss3000
Rlaford 3b4020Cddyer 2b4000
DBrwn lf4021Tiffee 3b4131
ACstillo c4000Brders c2000
Gotay 2b4000
Totals34382Totals30474
Kansas City011000010--3
Minnesota300000001--4
No outs when winning run scored.
DP--Minnesota 1. LOB--Kansas City 6, Minnesota 7. 2B--Berroa (22), Stairs (15), Pickering (1), DBrown 2 (6), Kubel (1). HR--Morneau (17), Tiffee (1). SB--Berroa (11). S--Borders.
IPHRERBBSO
Kansas City
MWood6 1-353326
DReyes L,3-81 2-321111
Minnesota
CSilva672212
Crain100001
JRincon2-311100
Romero W,6-11 1-300013
DReyes pitched to 1 batter in the 9th. HBP--by MWood (LFord). WP--Romero. Umpires--Home, Gerry Davis; First, Greg Gibson; Second, Larry Poncino; Third, Bruce Dreckman. T--2:18. A--23,735.
Athletics 9, Blue Jays 5
TORONTO -- The Oakland Athletics scored twice on wild pitches to tie it, and Eric Byrnes provided insurance with a three-run double in the ninth, propelling the A's past Toronto, their 16th win in the last 18 games.
Oakland pulled within 5-4 in the eighth on a wild pitch from Vinnie Chulk, then tied it in the ninth on another miscue by Jason Frasor. Mark McLemore put the A's ahead with a sacrifice fly before Byrnes' big hit.
Billy McMillon led off the ninth with a double off Frasor (4-5), who then hit Bobby Crosby with a pitch before Mark Kotsay advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt.
With McLemore batting, Frasor sent a pitch past catcher Kevin Cash, allowing pinch-runner Nick Swisher to tie the score at 5-all. McLemore's fly ball to center scored Crosby with the go-ahead run.
Frasor then walked Eric Chavez, allowed a single to Scott Hatteberg and walked Durazo before Byrnes hit his double. Left fielder Reed Johnson came in on the ball at first before watching it sail over his head.
Chris Hammond (4-1) pitched two innings for the win.
Oakland starter Mark Mulder failed to become the major's first 18-game winner. He allowed five runs on 10 hits.
OAKLANDTORONTO
abrhbiabrhbi
Kotsay cf4000Jhnson lf5120
McLmr 2b4011OHudsn 2b4110
EChavz 3b2210Crozier ph1000
Httberg 1b5220VWells cf3111
Durazo dh3201CDlgdo 1b2021
Byrnes rf4113Rios rf4001
DMiller c2022Mnchno 3b3120
Germn pr0000Hinske 3b1000
Mlhuse c1000Wdwrd ss4000
McMln lf4020Cash c4112
Swisher lf0100Quiroz dh4020
Crosby ss1110
Totals309107Totals355115
Oakland000002025--9
Toronto101012000--5
DP--Oakland 2, Toronto 4. LOB--Oakland 7, Toronto 6. 2B--Hatteberg (26), Byrnes (30), DMiller (24), McMillon (4), Crosby (30), OHudson (25), VWells (30), CDelgado (19). HR--Cash (4). CS--German (1). S--Kotsay. SF--McLemore.
IPHRERBBSO
Oakland
Mulder6105525
RRincon2-300010
Bradford1-300000
CHammond W,4-1210001
Toronto
MBatista762261
Chulk2-312220
Frasor L,4-5135520
File1-300000
HBP--by Frasor (Crosby). WP--Chulk, Frasor. Umpires--Home, Ted Barrett; First, Alfonso Marquez; Second, Ed Rapuano; Third, James Hoye. T--2:50. A--29,149.
White Sox 8, Mariners 7
CHICAGO -- Ichiro Suzuki went 5-for-5, but Paul Konerko hit two home runs and Mark Buehrle pitched seven strong innings to lead the Chicago White Sox past the Seattle Mariners.
Suzuki leads the majors with 223 hits, 34 short of the all-time single-season record. He has 27 games remaining to reach the record of 257 hits, set by George Sisler in 1920 with the St. Louis Browns.
Suzuki has had five or more hits in a game three times -- all this season. He has two or more hits in six of his last seven games. Buehrle (13-8) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings for the White Sox.
Shingo Takatsu got two outs for his 16th save in 17 chances.
SEATTLECHICAGO
abrhbiabrhbi
ISuzuki rf5351WHarrs 2b5221
Winn cf5111Rwand cf5021
EMrtnz dh5131CaLee lf4111
BBoone 2b2001Knerko 1b4233
Ibanez lf5032Gload 1b0000
Jcbsen 1b4011Vlentin ss4000
Olivo c4000TPerez rf5231
Lopez ss3000Uribe 3b4120
Blmqist 3b4220BDavis c4010
Brchrd dh3000
Totals377157Totals388147
Seattle000101113--7
Chicago22120100x--8
E--Winn (4), Olivo (5), Bloomquist (9), RFranklin (3), Uribe (10). DP--Chicago 2. LOB--Seattle 7, Chicago 10. 2B--Bloomquist (9), TPerez (10), Uribe 2 (24). HR--WHarris (1), CaLee (26), Konerko 2 (34), TPerez (5). SB--EMartinez (1), WHarris (14). CS--Valentin (4). SF--BBoone.
IPHRERBBSO
Seattle
RFranklin L,3-143 2-397731
Thornton3 1-351103
Villone100010
Chicago
Buehrle W,13-8793323
Cotts121000
Bajenaru1-333300
Takatsu S,16 2-310011
Umpires--Home, Kerwin Danley; First, Troy Fullwood; Second, Dana DeMuth; Third, Jim Joyce. T--2:44 A--24,191.