Garland (8-0) Has to Work at It

Jon Garland’s winning streak was in jeopardy.

He walked his first batter in the sixth inning, hit the next and gave up a run-scoring double.

With Garland clinging to a one-run lead and the heart of the Texas Rangers’ order at bat, catcher A.J. Pierzynski went to the mound.

“I can’t really say exactly what he said, but he told me I was being lazy,” Garland said. “He said my arm was dragging through the zone and told me to pick it up. From that point on, I started throwing the ball the way I had been for the first five innings.”

Garland got three straight outs to get out of the inning and went on to become the first eight-game winner in the major leagues, leading the Chicago White Sox over the Rangers, 5-2, Tuesday night at Chicago.

Garland (8-0), the first White Sox pitcher to win his first eight starts since John Whitehead in 1935, gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking two.

“It just feels nice to go out and give my team quality starts and a chance to win,” said Garland, who has won 10 straight starts dating to last season. “That’s what I’ve said from the very beginning.

“If I can keep these guys in the game, we’ll find ways to score runs.”

Dustin Hermanson walked two in the ninth but remained perfect in nine save chances. He hasn’t given up a run in 19 1/3 innings this year, a record for a White Sox pitcher at the start of a season.

Chicago, which stopped a three-game losing streak, led, 3-2, in the sixth before Pierzynski homered for the fourth time in five games, a two-run drive off Pedro Astacio (1-5) to give the team some breathing room.

New York 6, Seattle 0 -- Jason Giambi hit a solo home run, singled twice and drove in three runs, and Carl Pavano pitched a five-hitter at Seattle as the Yankees won their 10th game in a row.

Alex Rodriguez hit his major league leading 13th home run, a two-run shot, and Jorge Posada had an RBI single as the Yankees collected 10 hits and matched their longest winning streak since a 10-game run from June 30 to July 12, 1998.

Mariner third baseman Adrian Beltre left after five innings because of a tight left hamstring. Team officials said the move was precautionary.

Toronto 10, Minnesota 3 -- Josh Towers won his fourth straight start, and the Blue Jays took advantage of Johan Santana’s worst outing in nearly a year to win at Minneapolis.

Santana (5-2) gave up nine hits, seven runs and a walk in 5 1/3 innings, striking out five.

The last time he gave up seven runs was last May 23, in only three innings of a 17-7 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Baltimore 12, Kansas City 8 -- Rafael Palmeiro had four hits, including his 555th home run, and drove in five runs, helping the Orioles rally from a six-run deficit to beat the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

Brian Roberts hit his 11th home run and Sal Fasano had a pinch-hit shot for the Orioles (25-13), who moved 12 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 1997 season.

Boston 7, Oakland 5 -- Edgar Renteria hit a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning and David Ortiz doubled and drove in two runs, leading the Red Sox at Oakland.

The Athletics committed two costly errors in the eighth.

Detroit 4, Tampa Bay 3 -- Ivan Rodriguez tied the score with a two-out single in the ninth inning, and Rondell White singled home the winning run in the 11th for the Tigers at Detroit.

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Pitcher perfect

Jon Garland became the first Chicago White Sox pitcher to win his first eight starts in a season since John Whitehead in 1935 and the first in the majors since Pedro Martinez did so with the Montreal Expos in 1997. Garland ranks first among American League pitchers in wins and is among the league leaders in the following categories (statistics before Tuesday):

*--* Category No. Rank Shutouts 2 1st Runners per 9.0 IP 8.54 2nd Opponents OBP 251 2nd Hits per 9.0 IP 7.18 2nd Pitches per IP 13.3 2nd Complete games 2 T2nd Quality starts 6 T2nd Earned-run average 2.39 3rd Run support avg. 8.20 3rd Opponents slugging pct. 316 3rd

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