Rookies Propel Rangers Past A’s

Rookie designated hitter Jason Botts hit his first home run and rookie second baseman Ian Kinsler drove in a run with a broken-bat grounder that pushed the Texas Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday night at Arlington, Texas.

“That was one of the best parts of the home run. It gave us the lead and I was able to contribute in a big game,” Botts said. “It’s a great feeling. It seems like I’m floating right now.”

The Rangers led, 3-1, after Botts hit a 399-foot homer to right-center field with two outs in the second inning. After Oakland tied the score, Kinsler drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth.

Texas had the bases loaded in the sixth when Kinsler shattered his bat on a grounder that went only about a third of the way up the first-base line. Dan Johnson fielded the slow roller and all he could do was tag Kinsler out while Brad Wilkerson scored the go-ahead run.

First-place Texas won three of four in the series and leads second-place Oakland by three games in the American League West.

Cleveland 9, Detroit 0 -- Jason Johnson (3-4) struck out six in six shutout innings, Jason Michaels hit a grand slam and Travis Hafner homered to help the Indians end the host Tigers’ eight-game winning streak.

Kenny Rogers (7-3), who had won four games in a row, lost for the first time since April 24.

Chicago 7, Toronto 5 -- Jermaine Dye and Rob Mackowiak homered at Toronto and the White Sox avoided a three-game sweep.

Jon Garland (4-2) got the win despite giving up five runs and seven hits in six innings. Lyle Overbay homered twice for the Blue Jays.

Boston 5, Tampa Bay 4 -- Tim Wakefield (4-6) pitched eight shutout innings and Willie Harris threw out the tying run at the plate to end the game at Boston.

Carl Crawford singled to left field with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to drive in Greg Norton, but Harris easily threw out Joey Gathright for the final out.

New York 6, Kansas City 5 -- Johnny Damon hit a leadoff home run and Alex Rodriguez had a two-run single to highlight a five-run first inning for the Yankees at New York.

Reggie Sanders’ double drove in Doug Mientkiewicz to make it 6-4 in the seventh inning. Two batters later, Emil Brown drove in Sanders with a single that made it 6-5.

Minnesota 4, Seattle 3 -- Lew Ford led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a home run against former teammate Eddie Guardado (0-3) to help the Twins complete a three-game sweep.

The homer, a 414-foot drive to right-center field, was Ford’s second this season and first since April 21.