Garcia Gets Help and Beats Red Sox

Freddy Garcia got more run support on Saturday than he had in any of his other starts this season.

With a strong wind blowing around Fenway Park, he knew better than to feel too confident.

“Five runs here in Fenway Park ... anything can happen,� Garcia said after the Seattle Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4.

Raul Ibanez homered and Dan Wilson hit a two-run double to help Seattle take a 5-0 lead, and Garcia (3-3) held on to earn the victory.

Although he entered with the best earned-run average in the league, his record didn’t show it because the Mariners had scored only 20 runs in his first nine starts -- they had not scored more than four for him.

“We finally scored him some runs,� Manager Bob Melvin said. “Every pitch has been taxing on him, but today we finally got him some runs and he got us big outs when he needed them.�

Garcia yielded four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, his earned-run average rising from 2.71 to 3.01. Mike Myers struck out all three batters he faced, Shigetoshi Hasegawa got four outs and Eddie Guardardo pitched the ninth for his ninth save.

Tim Wakefield (4-3) gave up five runs -- all in the second and third innings before settling down. He gave up 10 hits with three walks in 6 2/3 innings.

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Toronto 6, Texas 2 -- The victory at Toronto might prove to be costly for the Blue Jays. Slugger Carlos Delgado left after the fifth inning because of an irritated right ribcage and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. He hurt himself while swinging his bat on a groundout in the fifth.

The Blue Jays already are without regulars Frank Catalanotto, Orlando Hudson, Kevin Cash and Chris Woodward, sidelined because of a variety of injuries.

Toronto starter Miguel Batista (3-4) yielded two runs and five hits, taking a shutout into the seventh before giving up Laynce Nix’s run-scoring grounder.

The Rangers have lost a season-high four in a row and have scored in only three of their last 36 innings.

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Kansas City 5, Minnesota 2 -- Dennys Reyes won his first decision in 27 appearances, helped by Carlos Beltran’s tiebreaking, three-run double at Kansas City, Mo.

Reyes (1-0) had not won since beating Seattle in relief for Texas on Sept. 9, 2002. He had gone six starts without a win since defeating Tampa Bay on Sept. 6, 2002.

He struck out five of the first six batters and finished with eight in seven innings. He gave up two runs -- one earned -- and six hits.

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New York 5, Tampa Bay 3 -- Kevin Brown yielded three hits in 7 2/3 innings at St. Petersburg, Fla., helping the Yankees move past the Red Sox into first place in the East Division.

New York climbed to a season-high 12 games over .500 (30-18) with its sixth win in a row.

Pitching on a week’s rest because he left the Yankees for two days to handle a personal matter, Brown (6-1) limited the Devil Rays to Toby Hall’s leadoff single in the third until Hall led off the eighth with a homer.

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Cleveland 8, Oakland 6 -- Jody Gerut singled home Matt Lawton with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning for the Indians, who won their third in a row and improved to 3-15 when trailing after the seventh.

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Baltimore 8, Detroit 4 -- Miguel Tejada homered for the third game in a row, and Larry Bigbie drove in three runs, leading the Orioles at Detroit. Daniel Cabrera (3-1) gave up three runs -- two earned -- and seven hits in five innings for the win.