Rangers, Greer Put on a Show in the Ninth

All Rusty Greer and the Texas Rangers need is one inning.

They proved that Tuesday night.

After the Rangers were held to three runs over eight innings at Chicago, Greer hit a tiebreaking grand slam and Ivan Rodriguez added a two-run double as the Rangers rallied for eight runs in the ninth inning and turned a 5-3 deficit into an 11-5 victory over the White Sox.

It was Greer’s sixth grand slam, his second against the White Sox.

“The past couple of games, I haven’t swung the bat really well. I was just looking to put the ball in play,” said Greer, who was hitless in two at-bats with two walks through the first eight innings. “We put some guys on base and had some good at-bats tonight.”

Lee Stevens drove in another run, and White Sox closer Bob Howry (0-1) walked in the tying run with two out in the ninth. Howry, who blew a save for the second time in 10 chances, gave up five runs and three hits in two-thirds of an inning.

“To give up runs on walks, you just can’t do it,” Howry said. “There’s no excuse for not coming out and throwing strikes.”

Jeff Zimmerman (2-0) was perfect in the seventh and eighth for the victory.

Juan Gonzalez left in the fourth with a slight strain in his right hamstring after hitting a solo home run, his eighth. Gonzalez, who has 29 RBIs, is listed as day to day.

“I hurt it running after the home run, running the bases,” Gonzalez said.

Rafael Palmeiro and Rodriguez began the ninth with singles, and Howry loaded the bases with a walk to Todd Zeile.

That brought up Stevens, who hit a solo homer in the third inning. Stevens hit a sacrifice fly that pulled Texas to 5-4, and pinch-hitter Mark McLemore’s single loaded the bases again.

After Tom Goodwin flied out, Howry forced in the tying run with a walk to Luis Alicea.

Greer then connected off Bryan Ward for a 9-5 lead. It was the 14th time since 1995 that Greer has driven in the game-winning run for the Rangers in their final at-bat.

Rodriguez doubled to drive in two more runs. The White Sox finally got out of the inning--which was made even longer by a 23-minute rain delay--when Stevens struck out.

Aaron Sele missed his scheduled start for the Rangers because of flu.

Toronto 8, Kansas City 2--Shawn Green drove in four runs and Tony Fernandez broke the club record by reaching base in 11 consecutive plate appearances as the Blue Jays won at Kansas City, ending the Royals’ four-game winning streak.

Fernandez singled in the first inning and walked in the third, breaking the record of reaching in 10 consecutive appearances shared by Paul Molitor in 1995 and Rance Mulliniks in 1984. The 15-year veteran, who came in leading the AL with a .383 batting average, saw his streak end in the fifth when he flied out to center.

Kelvim Escobar (3-1) went seven innings, his longest outing of the year, and raised his lifetime mark against Kansas City to 3-0. He gave up eight hits and two runs.

Green, whose 31 RBIs coming into the game trailed only the 42 of Cleveland’s Manny Ramirez for the AL lead, drove in a run with an infield out in the first, hit a two-run single in the second and added an RBI single off reliever Alvin Moorman as the Blue Jays took a 7-1 lead in the sixth.

Seattle 8, Boston 5--David Bell, Tom Lampkin and Butch Huskey homered and Jamie Moyer won for the first time in a month as the Mariners defeated the Red Sox at Boston.

Moyer (2-4), who last won on April 11 against Texas, gave up two earned runs and six hits over six innings and ended the Red Sox’s five-game winning streak. The Mariners, who lead the majors with 62 homers, had lost eight of their last 10.

After his three-homer, 10-RBI performance on Monday, Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a run-scoring double in the third inning that tied the score, 1-1.

The Mariners got to Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield (1-4) in the sixth, breaking a 2-2 tie. Huskey led off with a double, Jay Buhner walked and Russ Davis singled before Wakefield gave way to reliever Rheal Cormier. Huskey scored on a groundout and Buhner scored on an RBI double by Domingo Cedeno to make the score 4-2. RBI singles by Bell and Ken Griffey Jr. put Seattle up, 6-2.

Cleveland 11, Baltimore 6--Richie Sexson hit a three-run home run to cap a six-run fourth inning and David Justice had three runs batted in, powering the the Indians at Cleveland.

Wil Cordero had three hits and two RBIs for the Indians, who have 29 homers in their last 15 games. Cleveland, which entered the night leading the AL in eight offensive categories, won its third in a row to improve baseball’s best record to 23-9.

Bartolo Colon (5-1) again failed to get past the sixth inning, giving up four runs and seven hits. But he made big pitches when he needed to, ending three innings with strikeouts and getting a double play to get out of the sixth.

Oakland 6, Detroit 2--Brad Rigby pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings after Kenny Rogers left because of back spasms, and Jason Giambi hit a two-run double as the Athletics won at Detroit.

Miguel Tejada homered for the A’s, who have won seven of nine and are 5-2 on their eight-game road trip. Rogers left in the second inning after he suffered spasms in the right side of his back while covering first base on Gabe Kapler’s leadoff grounder.

Rigby (2-0) came in and gave up only two singles, striking out three as Oakland opened a 4-0 lead.