Athletics Keep Streak Alive With 4-2 Win

The Oakland Athletics extended the majors’ longest winning streak in 25 years to 16 games Friday night, beating the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, at Oakland.

Eric Chavez drove home an unearned run to break a fifth-inning tie and the A’s followed a 10-0 road trip by moving within one victory of the franchise-record 17-game streak by the 1931 Philadelphia A’s.

Oakland’s accomplishments have been largely overshadowed by baseball’s labor strife, but the A’s remained red-hot through all the uncertainty. They’ve won more games in a row than any team since 1977, when the Kansas City Royals won 16 consecutive.

For the first time in 12 games, however, the A’s didn’t score at least six runs to back their powerful starting rotation. Ray Durham led off the game with a homer, doubled twice and kept two rallies alive with hits.

The A’s starters have won 15 of the 16 games in the streak, but Tim Hudson (12-9) was shaky in Oakland’s first home game since Aug. 18.

Kansas City 5, Seattle 1--Raul Ibanez drove in four runs with a pair of doubles against his former team, leading Paul Byrd and the Royals over the faltering Mariners, 5-1, at Seattle.

A crowd of 45,260 watched the third-place Mariners lose for the fifth time in seven games.

Ibanez, who left Seattle and signed with the Royals as a minor league free agent after the 2000 season, doubled to center field in the first and fifth innings.

Boston 15, Cleveland 5--Brian Daubach and Trot Nixon each homered and drove in four runs and Derek Lowe earned his 18th win at Cleveland.

The Red Sox showed no effects of a long day of uncertain travel, scoring 11 runs over the first three innings. Cliff Floyd drove in two runs for the Red Sox, who gathered at Fenway Park in Boston at 4:30 a.m. PDT for the trip to Cleveland.

Not knowing if there would be a strike, they waited five hours before boarding a bus to the airport, then taking off. They got to their hotel in Cleveland at 12:30 p.m. PDT and went right to Jacobs Field, but did not take batting practice.

New York 9, Toronto 7--Alfonso Soriano homered twice, leading substitute starter Jeff Weaver and the Yankees at Toronto.

Soriano, attempting to become the first second baseman in major league history to have a 40-40 season, hit his 33rd and 34th homers. He stole his 36th base in the first inning.

Soriano hit a two-run homer off Pete Walker (7-4) in the second inning and a solo homer off Scott Cassidy in the ninth. Weaver (8-11) filled in for Andy Pettitte, who had a stiff back.

Chicago 4, Detroit 3--Dan Wright (10-11) yielded only three hits in seven innings and Josh Paul hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh to help the White Sox at Detroit.

Joe Crede led off the seventh with a double and was sacrificed to third by Royce Clayton. Paul’s single drove in Crede and gave Chicago a 3-2 lead. Aaron Rowand’s single gave the White Sox an insurance run.

Tampa Bay 9, Texas 7--Aubrey Huff and Steve Cox each homered and had three hits as the Devil Rays recovered after wasting a five-run lead at Arlington, Texas.

Alex Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 48th homer and Rafael Palmeiro hit his 485th career home run. The consecutive shots in the fourth inning for Rangers tied the score, 7-7.