AMERICAN LEAGUE Yankees rally past Angels

Hideki Matsui's 2-run double in ninth inning was a crucial hit in N.Y. 8-7 win.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Francisco Rodriguez looked tired, and he was having trouble throwing strikes. The New York Yankees' patient hitters only made things harder on him.
Hideki Matsui's two-run double in the ninth inning capped a big comeback, and New York took advantage of four walks by Rodriguez Saturday to beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-7.
"That's what we do best. We take our walks, and eventually somebody's got to be pitched to," Jason Giambi said.
Bernie Williams and Giambi homered for the Yankees, who got a stellar debut from starter Shawn Chacon and defeated the Angels for only the third time in nine meetings this season.
Juan Rivera connected for the AL West leaders and Paul Byrd threw seven solid innings, but Los Angeles' normally dependable bullpen blew a 7-3 lead in the last two innings -- perhaps Thursday's 18-inning loss in Toronto took a toll.
Giambi's two-run shot off Jake Woods in the eighth cut it to 7-5, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia brought in Rodriguez with one out.
"We were a little bit short today. Frankie was a little bit extended, and you've got to give them credit, it just got away from him," Scioscia said. "He's our guy, and he had enough in him to get through that inning."
Pitching for the third straight day, Rodriguez got out of the eighth with no trouble but began to fade in the ninth. The hard-throwing right-hander walked his first two batters before striking out Robinson Cano. Gary Sheffield then walked, and another free pass to Alex Rodriguez made it 7-6.
Francisco Rodriguez (2-2) threw his 36th pitch of the game to Matsui, who lined it into left-center. It was Rodriguez's fourth blown save in 29 chances this season, and second in three days.
LOS ANGELESNEW YORK
abrhbiabrhbi
Figgins 3b4210Jeter ss4112
OCbera ss5112Cano 2b5000
Erstad 1b4010Shffield rf4110
VGrero dh5001ARod 3b3011
GAndsn lf5010Matsui dh5122
SFinley cf3110JaGbi 1b3132
JRivra rf4122Posada c4000
JMolna c2000BWllms cf4221
DVnon ph0100Wmack lf3220
Paul c1010
AKndy 2b2110
Totals35795Totals358128
Los Angeles001000420--7
New York020001023--8
One out when winning run scored.
E--Embree (1). DP--Los Angeles 1. LOB--Los Angeles 7, New York 8. 2B--Paul (1), Jeter (15), Matsui (28), BWilliams (13). HR--JRivera (8), JaGiambi (17), BWilliams (7). SB--Figgins (36), SFinley (8), AKennedy (10), Womack 3 (23). S--Figgins, AKennedy.
IPHRERBBSO
Los Angeles
Byrd793314
JoPeralta1-300001
Woods022200
FRodriguez L,2-2113342
New York
Chacon641034
FRodriguez001110
Embree012100
Gordon143301
WFranklin100001
MRivera W,5-2100002
Woods pitched to 2 batters in the 8th, FRodriguez pitched to 1 batter in the 7th, Embree pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, Gordon pitched to 3 batters in the 8th. HBP--by Byrd (ARodriguez). WP--FRodriguez. PB--Posada. Balk--Gordon.
Umpires--Home, Mark Wegner; First, Gary Darling; Second, Tom Hallion; Third, Paul Nauert. T--3:43. A--54,220.
White Sox 9, Orioles 6
BALTIMORE -- A.J. Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye hit successive homers in a four-run eighth inning, and the Chicago White Sox rallied to beat Baltimore.
Joe Crede also connected for the White Sox, who made up deficits of 4-2 and 6-4 in handing the Orioles their 12th loss in 14 games. The defeat dropped Baltimore (51-52) under .500 for the first time since April 9.
Tadahito Iguchi led off the eighth with a walk off Chris Ray (0-3) and Paul Konerko singled with one out before Pierzynski hit his career-high 15th home run, a shot to right that made it 7-6. Four pitches later, Dye hit No. 21, the seventh time this season the White Sox have homered in consecutive at-bats.
Iguchi capped his second straight three-hit game with an RBI single in the ninth.
Neal Cotts (3-0) worked a perfect seventh, and Dustin Hermanson got three outs for his 24th save.
Rafael Palmeiro gave Baltimore a 6-4 lead in the sixth, hitting his 18th home run with a man on. It was his 1,191st extra-base hit, moving him out of a tie with Lou Gehrig into sole possession of sixth place on the career list.
On July 15, Palmeiro become the fourth player in major league history to have 3,000 hits and 500 homers. He now has 3,017 hits and 569 home runs.
Brian Roberts drove in two runs for Baltimore. Left fielder Eric Byrnes, who flew overnight from Colorado after being traded from the Rockies for outfielder Larry Bigbie, went 1-for-5 with an RBI in his Orioles debut.
CHICAGOBALTIMORE
abrhbiabrhbi
Pdsdnk lf3000BRbrts 2b5112
Iguchi 2b4232Byrnes lf5011
CEvrtt dh4001Mora 3b3000
Knerko 1b4010Tejada ss2100
Gload 1b1100RPlmo 1b4112
Przyns c4233JvLopz dh4010
Dye rf4122Gbbons rf3120
Rwand cf4000Surhoff rf1000
Crede 3b4121Fasano c4120
Uribe ss4220Newhn cf1100
Matos cf2000
Totals369139Totals34685
Chicago011020041--9
Baltimore004002000--6
DP--Baltimore 2. LOB--Chicago 4, Baltimore 5. 2B--Pierzynski (13), Uribe (13), BRoberts (29), Byrnes (16). 3B--Iguchi (4). HR--Pierzynski (15), Dye (21), Crede (15), RPalmeiro (18). CS--Podsednik (15). S--Podsednik. SF--CEverett.
IPHRERBBSO
Chicago
Contreras666633
Cotts W,3-0100000
Jenks1-300010
Marte2-310000
Hermanson S,24110000
Baltimore
DCabrera1 2-331113
Grimsley2 1-311100
BChen1 1-342200
Julio1 2-300001
Ray L,0-3134411
Kline121100
WP--Contreras. Umpires--Home, James Hoye; First, Joe West; Second, Mike DiMuro; Third, Mark Carlson. T--3:15. A--40,100 .