White Sox Can’t Handle Hudson

Tim Hudson knew right away he had something special going.

Hudson allowed three hits in eight innings and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Chicago White Sox, 10-0, Sunday at Oakland to complete a three-game sweep.

“I felt good when I was spotting my two-seamer in the first inning,” Hudson said. “I realized I could throw it anywhere I wanted.”

Hudson, who also threw his regular fastball, changeup and sinker for strikes, helped the A’s win a season-high fourth in a row.

Eric Chavez homered and had four runs batted in and the A’s took advantage of three errors to score four unearned runs. Oakland outscored Chicago, 32-5, in the series and extended its winning streak against the White Sox to 10 games.

Hudson (3-2), who lost his previous two starts, got 16 groundouts, struck out five and walked one. Billy Koch finished with a perfect ninth.

Paul Konerko singled with one out in the second to extend his career-high hitting streak to 16 games, then Hudson retired 16 of the next 17 batters before Konerko doubled with two out in the seventh. Only two White Sox runners got as far as second base.

Oakland (15-10) is off to its best start in nine years. Chicago lost its third in a row after winning nine of 11.

New York 4, Seattle 3--In their first trip west this season, the Yankees repeated their success from last year’s playoffs.

Rookie Nick Johnson’s two-out run-scoring double in the ninth inning enabled the Yankees to win two of three in Seattle to complete a 4-2 trip that began at Oakland. The Yankees beat the A’s and Mariners in the last two postseasons en route to winning four consecutive AL pennants.

Orlando Hernandez and three relievers limited the Mariners to five hits. Mariano Rivera hit a batter and walked another with one out in the ninth before striking out pinch-hitter Ichiro Suzuki and retiring Mark McLemore on a groundout for his eighth save in 10 chances.

The Yankees held the Mariners to five runs and a .140 batting average (12 for 86) in the three games. The Yankees lead the AL with a 3.45 earned-run average.

Detroit 5, Minnesota 4--Bobby Higginson singled home the winning run with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning, enabling the Tigers to complete their first series sweep in 34 tries since July.

Minnesota trailed, 4-1, before Corey Koskie’s two-run homer against Jose Paniagua in the eighth.

Pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty tripled against Juan Acevedo leading off the ninth and scored on Cristian Guzman’s groundout against Jamie Walker. With runners at the corners, Julio Santana retired Torii Hunter on a groundout.

Baltimore 13, Kansas City 0--Scott Erickson pitched a four-hitter for his first shutout in three years and the Orioles completed their first three-game sweep since September 2000.

Marty Cordova had four hits, scored three runs and drove in two. Geronimo Gil had three hits and three runs batted in, including a two-run double in the eighth.

After Carlos Beltran’s infield single in the first, Erickson (3-2) didn’t give up another hit until Mike Sweeney’s double in the seventh.

It was Erickson’s 12th shutout, his first since a three-hit, 5-0 victory over Minnesota on Sept. 7, 1999.

Texas 2, Cleveland 1--Ismael Valdes (2-3) pitched six strong innings and Rusty Greer drove in the go-ahead run at Arlington, Texas.

Texas’ John Rocker got out of a jam in the seventh. He walked Matt Lawton with one out and gave up a single to Omar Vizquel. But Lawton was thrown out trying to steal third and Jim Thome struck out to end the inning.