Jenks Closes In On History

Bobby Jenks hightailed it out of the White Sox clubhouse about as fast as he's been setting down batters lately. <br/><br/>The Chicago closer retired the side in the ninth Friday night in the White

Saturday, August 11th 2007, 2:46 pm

By: News On 6

Bobby Jenks hightailed it out of the White Sox clubhouse about as fast as he's been setting down batters lately.

The Chicago closer retired the side in the ninth Friday night in the White Sox 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners, his 33rd save in 38 chances. He's set down 38 straight batters, tying David Wells' American League record set in 1998 with the New York Yankees.

It's the fourth-longest streak in major league history.

``That's unbelievable,'' said White Sox starter Javier Vazquez. ``That's tough to do, especially in (that) situation.''

Jenks did not make himself available to the media afterward because he did not want to discuss the streak, a team spokesman said. He's three batters away from tying the record Jim Barr set for San Francisco in 1972.

Josh Fields hit two homers, Jermaine Dye went deep and Juan Uribe doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh for the White Sox, who have won seven of nine against four teams in playoff contention: the New York Yankees, the Detroit Tigers, the Cleveland Indians and the Mariners.

Vazquez (10-6) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings, struck out three and allowed one intentional walk. He improved to 7-1 in his last 10 starts and has won at least 10 games in eight straight seasons.

Kenji Johjima and Raul Ibanez hit solo shots for the Mariners, who trail the Los Angeles Angels by 3 1/2 games in the AL West and are tied with the Yankees atop the wild-card standings.

In other AL games, it was New York 6, Cleveland 1; Baltimore 6, Boston 5; Oakland 16, Detroit 10; Los Angels 10, Minnesota 1; Toronto 2, Kansas City 1; and Texas 7, Tampa Bay 4.

The Mariners had won nine of 12 and pounded out 49 hits while outscoring Baltimore 31-15 in a three-game sweep, but didn't give much run support to Jarrod Washburn (8-9) in Chicago.

The left-hander allowed seven hits and five runs in 6 2-3 innings to lose his second straight and third in six starts. He struck out six, walked two and has not won since pitching eight shutout innings at Kansas City on July 4.

``The whole game I felt like I threw better than I have in quite a while,'' Washburn said. ``I've been struggling a little bit, not throwing the ball that great. For the most part, I thought I threw the ball real well today.''

Manager John McLaren said, ``He had some crisp pitches, and he pitched well enough to win. He deserved a better fate than that.''

Tied at 3, the Mariners failed to capitalize after loading the bases with one out in the seventh and paid for it in the bottom half.

Dye led off with a single and came around on Uribe's double off the wall in left, making it 4-3. Uribe advanced to third on the throw home and scored with two out on Darin Erstad's triple to shallow center, the ball rolling by a diving Ichiro Suzuki.

Dye homered in the second, and Fields went deep in the third and sixth _ his first multihomer game.

Yankees 6, Indians 1

At Cleveland, Alex Rodriguez hit career home run No. 501 and rookie Phil Hughes (2-1) dominated the Indians by allowing only one run and four hits in six innings.

Rodriguez, who became the youngest player to reach the 500-homer plateau last week, connected for his 37th homer in the second inning off Fausto Carmona (13-7) on a night where all the Indians wore uniform No. 14 in tribute to late Hall of Famer Larry Doby, the first black player in the AL.

Orioles 6, Red Sox 5

At Baltimore, Brian Roberts led off the ninth inning with a double and scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly by Nick Markakis.

The Orioles rallied from a 5-1 deficit with a four-run eighth against Eric Gagne, then won it in the ninth against Hideki Okajima (3-1).

Baltimore rookie Jim Hoey (1-0) got four outs to earn his first big league win.

Athletics 16, Tigers 10

At Detroit, Jack Cust hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs, and Oakland rallied after blowing a seven-run lead to make a winner of reliever Ruddy Lugo (3-0).

Macay McBride (0-1) retired the first hitter of the sixth, but hit Travis Buck before walking the next two batters. Cust then hit a 429-foot line drive to center field to give Oakland a 12-9 lead.

Angels 10, Twins 1

At Anaheim, Calif., Maicer Izturis hit his first career grand slam to help Kelvim Escobar (12-6) end a personal three-game losing streak for Los Angeles.

Scott Baker (6-5) gave up six runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings, walking three and striking out four. He is 0-4 with a 7.36 ERA in five career starts against the Angels.

Blue Jays 2, Royals 1

At Kansas City, Mo., Shaun Marcum (9-4) carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and after he left with leg cramps, Toronto held on to beat the Royals.

Vernon Wells broke a scoreless game with a double to the left-center gap in the sixth off Gil Meche (7-10), scoring Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios, who led off the inning with singles.

Jeremy Accardo pitched the ninth for his 21st save in 25 opportunities.

Rangers 7, Devil Rays 4

At Arlington, Texas, Frank Catalanotto hit the go-ahead homer off Andy Sonnanstine (1-8) and had a career-high five RBIs to lead the Rangers.

Mike Wood (2-1) allowed one run and two hits in 2 1-3 innings to earn the decision. C.J. Wilson got four outs for his fourth save in five chances to stretch his scoreless streak to 14 innings.