Irabu Struggles as Twins Stop Yankees Again

Against one of the worst-hitting teams in the AL, Hideki Irabu’s best pitch failed him, and it cost him an impressive streak.

Irabu gave up five runs and nine hits in only 6 1/3 innings Sunday as the Minnesota Twins defeated the New York Yankees, 5-3, for the second day in a row at Yankee Stadium.

Usually Irabu uses the forkball as his strikeout pitch. Sunday, it worked to the Twin hitters’ advantage.

“All the hard hits came off the forkball when he was ahead in the count,� Yankee catcher Jorge Posada said. “Usually he’s able to finish off hitters. Today, he left the forkball up.�

Irabu (9-4), who had won eight consecutive decisions dating back to May 25, failed to become the fifth Yankee starter with at least 10 victories this season.

For the Twins, Brad Radke, who gives up the fewest walks per nine innings in the AL, gave up two runs in 7 2/3 innings, recording 13 consecutive outs at one point. Marty Cordova had three runs batted in to lead the Minnesota offense, as the Twins won consecutive games at Yankee Stadium for the first time since July 14-15, 1995.

“Now at least we’re going to get a split,� Denny Hocking said. “You come into Yankee Stadium and everybody expects us to lose four games. That’s fine. Now we have a chance to get three of four.�

Seattle 4, Boston 3--Alex Rodriguez homered for the fourth consecutive game and scored three times, leading rookie Gil Meche and the Mariners over the Red Sox at Boston.

Rodriguez’s 31st homer in the sixth inning off Mark Portugal broke a 2-2 tie. The solo shot helped the Mariners salvage the finale of a three-game series.

It was only Boston’s second loss in its last nine games.

Meche (4-2) gave up two runs and three hits in seven innings, retiring the last eight batters he faced.

Cleveland 5, Baltimore 1--Bartolo Colon and Jim Thome continued their fine second-half play at Cleveland to help extend the Indians’ winning streak to six games.

Colon (12-4), coming off a complete-game shutout Monday night against the Angels, allowed one run on five hits over seven innings to win for the fifth time in six decisions since the all-star break. The right-hander shook off a line drive to his right shin on a ball hit by B.J. Surhoff in the first inning.

Thome hit his 23rd homer, the 15th homer in his last 52 games, during which time he has hit .330 (60 for 182).

Oakland 9, Toronto 5--Jason Giambi hit three doubles and drove in two runs as the Athletics defeated the Blue Jays to complete a three-game sweep at Toronto and grab a half-game game lead in the AL wild-card race.

Oakland improved to 6-0 against Toronto and moved within a game of Boston for the wild-card lead. The A’s are off to Boston, where they’ll play four games beginning today.

Tampa Bay 5, Kansas City 3--Bubba Trammell hit a tie-breaking homer in the seventh inning and Dave Eiland (3-7) allowed no hits through 4 2/3 innings as the Devil Rays defeated the Royals at Kansas City.

Trammell homered on a 2-0, two-out pitch from Mac Suzuki (0-3) to snap a 3-3 tie and lift the Devil Rays to their seventh victory in 11 games.