Jenks Denied Major League Record in Win

Bobby Jenks fell short of a major league record before finishing off the Royals. Ryan Budde ended the New York Yankees' night with a game-winning hit for the Angels. <br/><br/>Jenks settled for a share

Tuesday, August 21st 2007, 7:45 am

By: News On 6

Bobby Jenks fell short of a major league record before finishing off the Royals. Ryan Budde ended the New York Yankees' night with a game-winning hit for the Angels.

Jenks settled for a share of the record when Joey Gathright broke the Chicago closer's string of 41 straight outs, and then stopped the White Sox's worst skid in 16 years by saving a 4-3 victory over Kansas City on Monday night.

Jenks, who tied Jim Barr's mark of 41 for San Francisco in 1972 last Sunday, gave up a single to Gathright to lead off the ninth.

``I messed that one up myself,'' Jenks said. ``I shook off slider to go back to curveball. But he's hot, tip my hat.''

Budde doubled in the winning run in the 10th inning to lift Los Angeles to a 7-6 win. It was his first RBI and extra-base hit in the majors.

``It feels great, a dream come true. Wow!'' said a grinning Budde, who made his big league debut July 31. ``To do it against the Yankees is awesome.''

Budde hit a 2-0 pitch from Sean Henn (2-1) into right-center to score Howie Kendrick, who had doubled to right with one out.

In other AL games, it was: Seattle 9, Minnesota 4; Boston 6, Tampa Bay 0; and Oakland 6, Toronto 4. Texas' game at Baltimore was postponed by rain and will be made up Wednesday as the opener of a doubleheader.

At Chicago, Jenks retired the next three batters after Gathright's hit for his 34th save in 39 chances. Danny Richar and Scott Podsednik homered for the White Sox, who avoided losing nine in a row for the first time since Aug. 19-28, 1991.

``It feels weird. I forgot the last time we shook hands. I forgot what to do, I was confused,'' Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said.

Matt Thornton pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings to earn the win. David Riske (1-3) was charged with the loss.

The AL West-leading Angels' second straight victory kept them two games ahead of Seattle, which beat Minnesota 9-4. The visiting Yankees dropped five games behind Boston in the AL East and had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Darren Oliver (0-1) pitched a perfect 10th to get the victory.

``It's tough to take, but both teams can't win,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said. ``It's tough to lose games like that, but you understand it's going to happen. We didn't beat ourselves, they beat us.''

Alex Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 40th homer and Jorge Posada also connected for New York. Mariners 9, Twins 4

Raul Ibanez homered twice and drove in three runs to lead Seattle to its fourth straight win.

Richie Sexson and Kenji Johjima also went deep for the visiting Mariners, who also have won seven of nine to improve to a season-high 18 games over .500.

Seattle's Horacio Ramirez (8-4) allowed nine hits and four earned runs in 7 1-3 innings, his longest outing of the season.

The Mariners chased Minnesota starter Matt Garza (2-4) in the third inning. He was charged with seven runs and nine hits, recording just seven outs.

Ibanez is hitting .431 (28-for-65) in August. He leads the league with nine home runs this month, all in his last 13 games. He hit six in his first 97 games.

Red Sox 6, Devil Rays 0

Tim Wakefield allowed four hits over seven innings to improve to 19-2 against Tampa Bay.

Wakefield (15-10) struck out five and walked one, and moved into a tie for the major league lead in wins this season. The knuckleballer, who is 9-0 at Tropicana Field, has the most wins by any Tampa Bay opponent.

Mike Lowell homered for the AL East-leading Red Sox, who are 11-8 in August.

Scott Kazmir (9-8) gave up six runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings for Tampa Bay.

Athletics 6, Blue Jays 4

Jack Hannahan hit his first major league home run and Joe Blanton remained unbeaten in August for Oakland.

Nick Swisher also homered for visiting Oakland, which has won six of eight. Swisher singled twice and went 3-for-4.

Blanton (11-8) allowed one run and six hits over seven innings, walking none and striking out six to improve to 3-0 with a 3.96 ERA in four August starts.

Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum lost for the first time in six starts. Marcum (10-5) allowed six runs and nine hits over three innings, matching his shortest outing of the season.