Bret Boone's Grand Slam Defeats Red Sox

Monday, July 19th 2004, 5:57 am

By: News On 6

Not another Boone brother! It was Bret Boone's turn to beat Boston with an 11th inning home run when he hit a grand slam that gave the Seattle Mariners an 8-4 victory over the visiting Red Sox on Monday night.

Last season, Aaron Boone's homer in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the AL championship series propelled the New York Yankees to the World Series.

While Bret Boone's homer wasn't a season-ender, it prevented the Red Sox from gaining ground on the American League East-leading Yankees, 9-7 losers at Tampa Bay. Boston is seven games out of first in the East.

``It's the worst game we've played all year,'' Boston center fielder Johnny Damon said. ``We shouldn't have been in this situation. We were just awful. Every game is important for us. We had a chance to pick up a game on the Yankees and let it slip through our fingers.''

Jason Varitek hit a three-run homer in the eighth to give Boston a 4-1 lead, but the Mariners tied it with one out in the ninth when Miguel Olivo and Edgar Martinez hit consecutive homers off Red Sox closer Keith Foulke. It was Foulke's fourth blown save in his last six chances.

In other AL games, it was: Minnesota 3, Detroit 1; White Sox 12, Texas 6; Baltimore 7, Kansas City 4; Cleveland 8, Anaheim 5 in 10 innings; and Toronto 5, Oakland 3.

Boone hit his fifth career grand slam on an 0-1 pitch from Curtis Leskanic (1-5), a drive into the Seattle bullpen in left field. The Mariners loaded the bases on a single by Olivo and walks to Dave Hansen and Randy Winn. Winn's walk was intentional.

Boone, hitting .233 coming in, was 2-for-6 with six RBIs. He wasn't upset that the Red Sox walked Winn to pitch to him.

``With the struggles I've had this season, you can't blame them,'' he said. ``It was a great win.''

Mike Myers (4-1), Seattle's fifth pitcher, got one out in the 11th.

Devil Rays 9, Yankees 7

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Aubrey Huff and Robert Fick drove in two runs each, and Tampa Bay hung on for a win over New York after taking a five-run lead in the first.

Geoff Blum's RBI single off Tanyon Sturtze (3-2) snapped a 5-all tie in the sixth.

Lance Carter (3-2) got the win, and Danys Baez got four outs for his 19th save.

Twins 3, Tigers 1

At Detroit, pinch-hitter Jose Offerman's two-run single in the seventh led Minnesota to its second win in eight games.

Terry Mulholland (2-3) gave up one run on four hits in 6 2-3 innings, improving to 2-0 in three starts since moving into the rotation earlier this month.

Mulholland joined the New York Mets' Al Leiter and the Yankees' Kevin Brown as the only pitchers to beat all 30 teams.

Jason Johnson (7-8) allowed three runs on seven hits in eight-plus innings, eight days after pitching a five-hit shutout in Minnesota.

White Sox 12, Rangers 6

At Arlington, Texas, Carl Everett homered for Chicago a day after he rejoined the White Sox in a trade.

Everett was the designated hitter and went 2-for-5 with a walk.

Mark Teixeira homered in his fifth straight game to tie a Texas club record.

Scott Schoeneweis (6-7) snapped a five-start losing streak. Joaquin Benoit (3-5) allowed seven runs.

Orioles 7, Royals 4

At Kansas City, Mo., Sidney Ponson (4-12) gave up two runs in six innings to end his nine-game losing streak.

Javy Lopez had three hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, and Miguel Tejada hit his 16th homer, a two-run shot.

Brian Anderson (1-9) lost his ninth straight start, a Royals' club record set by Jeff Suppan in 2002.

Athletics 5, Blue Jays 3

At Oakland, Calif., Josh Towers (4-3) gave up two runs in 7 1-3 innings, Vernon Wells homered in a four-run fourth and Toronto snapped its season-high, six-game losing streak.

Jason Frasor allowed a leadoff homer in the ninth to Erubiel Durazo before finishing for his 10th save.

The Blue Jays batted around in the fourth inning when they scored four runs on six hits and chased Kirk Saarloos (1-1).

Indians 8, Angels 5, 10 innings

At Anaheim, Calif., Travis Hafner hit his second homer of the game _ a three-run shot in the 10th inning _ and drove in a career-high five runs to lead Cleveland over the Angels.

David Eckstein's two-out error on a routine grounder by Matt Lawton set the stage for Hafner's game-winning homer off Troy Percival (2-2).

Indians reliever David Riske (5-2) got the win despite allowing two runs in the ninth.