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 On a night the New York Yankees tied a franchise record with eight homers, the one player chasing a home run milestone failed to go deep. The Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 16-3, but A-Rod stayed stuck on 499 homers Tuesday night.
"I'm sure if you polled everybody in baseball who didn't see the game and saw eight home runs being hit, they would have guessed that Alex hit two or three of them," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
Hideki Matsui homered twice, and Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada, Bobby Abreu, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano and Shelley Duncan hit one apiece to back Mike Mussina (6-7). New York pulled within three games of Cleveland, the AL wild-card leader
-- the closest the Yankees have been to playoff territory since after games of April 25.
A-Rod is hitless in 17 at-bats since he connected against Kansas City last Wednesday.
Each time he batted, flashes popped throughout Yankee Stadium.
"They took pictures of the wrong guy tonight," he said.
After completing his 0-for-5 performance, he flipped his bat into the stands behind the dugout
-- giving a boy one memorable souvenir.
It was a potential night of milestones in the major leagues, but Barry Bonds failed to tie Hank Aaron's career record of 755, and Mets pitcher Tom Glavine fell short in his quest for his 300th win.
Rodriguez was taken out after seven innings and will go for 500 homers again Wednesday night against John Danks and the White Sox.
In other AL games, it was Baltimore 5, Boston 3, Texas 3; Cleveland 1, Toronto 2, Tampa Bay 0; Minnesota 5, Kansas City 3; Oakland 7, Detroit 3; Los Angeles 8, Seattle 0.
Abreu hit a three-run drive and Matsui connected in the first against Jose Contreras (5-14), who has lost his last seven starts and nine of his last 10. Abreu's ninth of the year reached the second row of the upper deck in right.
Matsui also connected in the sixth, giving him 13 homers in July and 21 this season.
"I was quite surprised," Matsui said of the Yankees' eight homers. "I've never really experienced anything like this."
Cano and Cabrera joined the power surge in the third, Posada went deep in the fourth and Damon connected in the seventh before Duncan's drive.
Mussina was the beneficiary of the support, winning his second straight start. He gave up three runs and six hits in six innings. Contreras allowed seven runs and eight hits in 2 2-3 innings against his former team, his shortest outing since he lasted just one against Cleveland on April 2.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was ejected by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi in the first inning. Cuzzi also tossed Konerko from the game in the sixth.
"Since 1985, I've never seen any umpire disrespect players and managers the way this guy does," Guillen said.
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Orioles 5, Red Sox 3
Erik Bedard (11-4) allowed two hits over six innings to win his seventh straight decision, and visiting Baltimore won despite two homers by David Ortiz.
Brian Roberts homered on the first pitch from Josh Beckett (13-5) and added an RBI double in the Orioles' three-run third. Beckett allowed five runs and nine hits, striking out six to lose consecutive starts for the first time this year.
Angels 8, Mariners 0
Gary Matthews Jr. hit two home runs, his first in six weeks and John Lackey (13-6) threw a seven-hitter in his first complete game of the season for visiting Los Angeles.
Matthews had four hits to tie a season high and drove in three runs. It was his third career multihomer game and second of the season.
Seattle's four-game winning streak ended in part because Jeff Weaver (2-10) allowed six runs and seven hits in four innings.
Athletics 7, Tigers 3
Kurt Suzuki and Jack Cust hit two-run singles in the sixth inning to help host Oakland snap a four-game losing streak.
Dan Haren (13-3) was the beneficiary of the four-run rally and outpitched fellow All-Star Justin Verlander (11-4) to win his third straight start. Haren allowed three runs
-- two earned -- and six hits in six innings.
Twins 5, Royals 3
Torii Hunter homered and Carlos Silva (9-11) cruised through eight innings as host Minnesota won its fourth straight.
Hunter's homer, his 22nd, led off the second against Jorge De La Rosa (8-11). Three hits and two errors later, the Twins had a 4-0 lead.
Rangers 3, Indians 1
Brandon McCarthy won for the first time in more than two months, beating host Cleveland Fausto Carmona (13-5).
McCarthy (5-7), who had been winless since May 27 with three losses and four no-decisions, took a shutout into the seventh before Ryan Garko homered.
Blue Jays 2, Devil Rays 0
Former Tampa Bay bat boy Jesse Litsch threw 6 2-3 shutout innings against his old team.
Litsch (4-4), who worked for the Devil Rays from 2000-02, gave up seven hits in his first pro start at Tropicana Field. He struck out two and walked one.
Edwin Jackson (2-11) gave up one unearned run and five hits in six innings for the Devil Rays, who were looking for their first three-game winning streak since June 9-12.
[Associated Press]
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