MLB ROUNDUP Monday’s games

AMERICAN LEAGUE

White Sox 4, Royals 3

CHICAGO — Bobby Jenks failed to break the major league record for consecutive batters retired before getting three outs to help Chicago avoid its longest losing streak in 16 years. Jenks, who tied Jim Barr’s mark of 41 for San Francisco in 1972 Sunday, gave up a single to Joey Gathright to lead off the ninth. Jenks responded by retiring the next three batters for his 34th save in 39 chances. Fields broke a 3-all tie in the seventh inning with an RBI-single for Chicago. Danny Richar had tied the game earlier in the inning with his second home run of the year. Scott Podsednik also homered for the White Sox as they avoided losing nine in a row for the first time since Aug. 19-28, 1991. Emil Brown hit a two-run homer and Gathright had three hits for the Royals, who fell back into a tie with the White Sox in fourth place in the AL Central.

Red Sox 6, Devil Rays 0

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tim Wakefield continued his dominance over Tampa Bay, allowing four hits over seven innings. Wakefield improved to 19-2 — including a 9-0 mark at Tropicana Field — all-time against the Devil Rays. It’s the most wins by any Tampa Bay opponent. Wakefield (15-10) struck out five and walked one, and moved into a tie for the major league lead in wins this season. The Devil Rays lost for the sixth time in eight games and fell to 47-77, two games worse than they were at this time last year. Mike Lowell had a homer and drove in three runs, and Manny Ramirez had two RBIs for the AL East-leading Red Sox, who are 11-8 in August. Ramirez has 39 RBIs in 38 games since the All-Star break. Lowell put the Red Sox up 2-0 on a two-run double in the first. His solo homer off Scott Kazmir (9-8) extended the Boston lead to 6-0 in the fifth. The blast ended Kazmir’s stretch of not allowing a homer in nine straight starts.

Mariners 9, Twins 4

MINNEAPOLIS — Raul Ibanez homered twice and drove in three runs to lead Seattle to its fourth straight win. Richie Sexson and Kenji Johjima also went deep for the Mariners, who also have won seven of nine to improve to a season-high 18 games over .500. Seattle’s Horacio Ramirez (8-4) allowed nine hits and four earned runs in 71⁄3 innings, his longest outing of the season. The Mariners chased Minnesota starter Matt Garza (2-4) in the third inning. He was charged with seven runs and nine hits, recording just seven outs. Ibanez is hitting .431 (28-for-65) in August. He leads the league with nine home runs this month, all in his last 13 games. He hit six in his first 97 games.

Athletics 6, Blue Jays 4

TORONTO — Jack Hannahan hit his first major league home run and Joe Blanton remained unbeaten in August for Oakland. Nick Swisher also homered for Oakland, which has won six of eight. Swisher singled twice and went 3-for-4. Blanton (11-8) allowed one run and six hits over seven innings, walking none and striking out six to improve to 3-0 with a 3.96 ERA in four August starts. Toronto scored three in the eighth against reliever Andrew Brown. Reed Johnson was hit by a pitch and scored on Lyle Overbay’s double. Two outs later, Frank Thomas and Troy Glaus hit back-two-back RBI doubles, chasing Brown. Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum lost for the first time in six starts. Marcum (10-5) allowed six runs and nine hits over three innings, matching his shortest outing of the season. He walked one and struck out four.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cardinals 6, Cubs 4

CHICAGO — Albert Pujols and Rick Ankiel homered and Scott Rolen drove in three runs with a pair of doubles for St. Louis. Pujols hit his 28th homer in the fifth, and Rolen had a two-run double in the first and a run-scoring double in the third. Ankiel, the pitcher-turned-outfielder, made a great throw in the first to cut down Chicago leadoff hitter Ryan Theriot when he tried to stretch a double into a triple. Leading off the seventh against rookie Carmen Pignatiello, he hit his fourth homer to put St. Louis up 6-4. Joel Pineiro (3-1) went five innings to win his third straight start. He allowed three runs and seven hits, including back-to-back homers to Daryle Ward and Mark DeRosa in the second inning. Derrek Lee homered off Troy Percival in the sixth. Cubs starter Ted Lilly (13-6), who was 8-1 in his previous 10 starts, gave up seven hits and five runs over six innings.

Braves 14, Reds 4

CINCINNATI — Mark Teixeira hit a pair of homers for the second straight game and Brian McCann had a first-inning grand slam for the Braves. With Atlanta’s offense fully revved, right-hander Tim Hudson (15-5) settled in and stayed unbeaten for the last two months. Hudson improved to 9-0 in his last 11 starts and became the first NL pitcher to reach the 15-win mark. Andruw Jones also had a two-run drive for the Braves. Phil Dumatrait (0-2) gave up eight runs and seven hits in two innings for Cincinnati. Jeff Keppinger went 3-for-4 and scored three runs. Teixeira finished with three hits, scored four runs and had six RBIs.

Giants 8, Marlins 7

MIAMI — Bengie Molina drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning with his third RBI single, and last-place San Francisco overcame a four-run deficit to complete a four-game sweeep of Florida. The Giants won their fifth consecutive game for their longest road winning streak since Aug. 21-Sept. 5, 2005. San Francisco finished 6-3 on its first winning trip of the year. Jeremy Hermida hit a three-run homer for Florida to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead, but the Giants came back despite stranding 14 runners. The Giants took the lead for good in the sixth, when Dave Roberts led off with a triple off Ross Wolf (0-1) and came home on a one-out single by Molina. Jack Taschner (3-1) pitched 11⁄3 scoreless innings despite three walks. With Brad Hennessey getting the day off after converting saves in three consecutive games, Brian Wilson pitched the ninth for his first save of the year.

Nationals 7, Astros 0

HOUSTON — Tim Redding threw seven shutout innings against his former team and Dmitri Young hit a three-run homer as Washington ended a four-game losing streak. Newly acquired Wily Mo Pena homered for the second straight game and added an RBI single for Washington, which began its season-high 10-game road trip with a victory. Austin Kearns, Ronnie Belliard and Pena each had three hits. Washington had scored more than four runs just once in its previous 11 games. Redding (3-3) played for Houston for four seasons before he was traded to San Diego in 2005. He avenged a July 17 loss to the Astros in Washington, his only other action against his former team. Redding gave up six hits, struck out two and walked three. He has won his last two starts, allowing just two runs and nine hits in 13 innings while lowering his ERA to 2.53. Jason Jennings (2-9) gave up six runs and seven hits in four innings for Houston, stretching his winless streak to six games. He has just one win in 12 starts since June 19.

Associated Press