A’s Brothers Bash Their Way to Win

Jason and Jeremy Giambi each hit two-run home runs Saturday night as the Oakland Athletics won their 10th game in a row with an 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees at Oakland.

The A’s have gone a major league-best 23-7 since the All-Star break. The winning streak is their longest since Sept. 8-18, 1992.

Rookie Erik Hiljus gave up three runs and seven hits over 4 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts. But Mike Magnante (1-1) got the victory with one inning of relief.

Jason Isringhausen gave up Tino Martinez’s run-scoring single before earning his 23rd save in 30 chances.

Derek Jeter homered to lead off the game for the Yankees, who are 0-5 at Oakland Coliseum this year.

Down, 1-0, in the first, Jason Giambi hit a two-run liner off Sterling Hitchcock (1-2) into the seats overlooking right field for his 28th homer of the season.

Jeremy Giambi, Jason’s younger brother, hit his two-run shot off Hitchcock in the second inning. It was the fourth time in their careers and second time this season both brothers homered in the same game.

Seattle 4, Chicago 3--Ichiro Suzuki singled in two runs and Mark McLemore followed with a run-scoring single off closer Keith Foulke with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Mariners a dramatic victory at Seattle.

The win allowed the Mariners to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season. The White Sox rallied to beat Seattle, 8-6, with five runs off closer Kazuhiro Sasaki in the ninth Friday night.

In the ninth, the Mariners loaded the bases on Bret Boone’s single, Al Martin’s walk and a two-out walk to Tom Lampkin. Suzuki singled to score Boone and Martin, while Lampkin advanced to third and Suzuki to second on the throw.

McLemore followed with his single to center off Foulke (3-7), who suffered his first loss and first blown save since June 26.

Ryan Franklin (5-1) got the victory with two innings of scoreless relief.

Rookie Dan Wright gave up one run and five hits over 7 2/3 innings for the White Sox.

Jose Valentin homered for the White Sox, who thought they had broken Paul Abbott’s 10-game winning streak, a Mariners’ season record.

Texas 6, Cleveland 5--Rafael Palmeiro delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning off Indian reliever John Rocker as the Rangers rallied at Arlington, Texas.

Texas trailed, 4-2, before loading the bases in the eighth off Rocker (3-5), who walked the first two batters he faced, then hit Alex Rodriguez with a full-count pitch.

After Rocker balked to allow one run to score, Palmeiro doubled into the right-field corner. Bob Wickman got two outs before Ricky Ledee beat out an infield single to bring Palmeiro home.

Cleveland lost its third in a row, and for the second consecutive night missed a chance to regain sole possession of first place in the AL Central.

Baltimore 4, Boston 2--Cal Ripken and the Orioles ended David Cone’s seven-game winning streak as they used a solid pitching performance by rookie Josh Towers to defeat the Red Sox at Baltimore.

Ripken had three hits as the Orioles dealt the reeling Red Sox their fourth consecutive defeat and sixth consecutive loss on the road. Manny Ramirez hit his 36th home run for Boston.

Towers (7-7) allowed two runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings. He yielded solo homers to Ramirez and Trot Nixon, but that didn’t stop him from earning his first win in seven starts since June 29.

Tampa Bay 4, Minnesota 3--Jared Sandberg, the nephew of former Chicago Cub second baseman Ryne Sandberg, hit his first major league home run to highlight the Devil Rays’ second consecutive victory over the Twins at St. Petersburg, Fla.

David Ortiz, Corey Koskie and Torii Hunter each hit solo home runs for Minnesota, which has lost 19 of 26 games.

Brent Abernathy hit a two-run homer for Tampa Bay, which won successive games for the first time since July 21-22.

Tampa Bay has won nine of its last 16 games against first-place teams.

Kansas City 4, Detroit 1--Chris George got his first major league victory, holding the Tigers to three hits over seven innings at Kansas City, Mo.

Raul Ibanez and Dave McCarty, who was filling in for the injured Mike Sweeney, each hit two-run homers for the Royals. Sweeney hurt his knuckles and right wrist during a fight Friday night with the Tigers and missed his first game since Aug. 3 of last season.

The left-handed George (1-3), who lost his first three starts, retired his final 14 batters, struck out four and walked none. George was the 31st player selected in the 1998 draft and a member of the 2000 Olympic gold medal team.