Perfect into 6th, Buehrle unravels against Twins

[July 29, 2009]  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- As Mark Buehrle breezed through the first five innings against the Minnesota Twins, the Chicago White Sox ace felt even better than he did during his perfect game the last time he took the mound.

Then the Twins used some of that Metrodome magic to dink and dunk their way to a 5-3 victory over the White Sox, turning a historic start by Buehrle into a loss in a matter of minutes.

Coming off the 18th perfect game in major league history, Buehrle retired the first 17 batters to set a record with 45 outs in a row before the Twins finally got to him in the sixth inning.

"I'm not a big fan of broken-bat, bloop singles," Buehrle said. "It just seems like any time at this place you just know it's going to happen. You could be up 10-0 in the ninth inning and something's going to happen in that inning."

Buehrle (11-4) lost what would have been his second straight perfect game and his no-hitter with two outs in the sixth. He wound up allowing five runs on five hits in 6 1-3 innings.

"It's an honor, another one of those things I never thought I'd do," Buehrle said of the record. "It's just frustrating the way the game ended."

After walking Alexi Casilla to lose his bid to become the first pitcher in history to throw consecutive perfect games and then losing his no-hitter on a single up the middle by Denard Span, Buehrle gave up an RBI double to Joe Mauer to tie the game at 1 in the fifth inning.

Then Nick Punto had a blooper for a two-run single and Brendan Harris added another soft RBI single in Minnesota's four-run seventh to chase Buehrle.

"I have never seen anything like that. It takes a special guy to do something like that," Span said of Buehrle's streak. "I am not saying I was going to break it up, but I was determined that somehow he wasn't going to do that to us, especially in the Dome. Give him a lot of credit, he gained a lot of respect in my book tonight."

Buerhle surpassed the mark of 41 straight set by San Francisco's Jim Barr in 1972 and tied by teammate Bobby Jenks, a reliever, in 2007.

"Especially being able to break that here on the turf," Jenks said. "That team is known for being able to hit the ball on the ground and run. It's pretty impressive."

Jermaine Dye hit a solo homer off Scott Baker in the sixth and Gordon Beckham's two-run single in the ninth made things interesting before Joe Nathan recorded the final out for his 28th save.

The win pulled the Twins (51-50) into a tie with the White Sox for second place in the AL Central, just two games behind the Tigers.

Athletics 9, Red Sox 8, 11 innings

At Boston, Rajai Davis singled home Mark Ellis in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, then did it again in the 11th to give Oakland the win.

Boston led 7-4 when Jonathan Papelbon blew just his third save in 28 opportunities, thanks in part to two ninth-inning throwing errors by shortstop Nick Green. It was still 7-7 with two outs in the 11th when Ellis doubled off Manny Delcarmen (2-2) and scored on Davis' single to right.

Davis scored on Adam Kennedy's career-high fifth hit to make it 9-7. Craig Breslow (4-4) pitched a perfect 10th for the win, and Andrew Bailey earned his 12th save despite giving one run back in the 11th.

Rays 6, Yankees 2

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir outpitched CC Sabathia to win for the first time in more than two months.

Evan Longoria hit a solo homer and Carl Crawford had an RBI triple off Sabathia (10-7), and AL East-leading New York lost for just the second time in 12 games since the All-Star break.

Kazmir (5-6) took a four-hitter into the eighth inning to win for the first time since May 9, against Boston.

Sabathia, 7-1 lifetime against Tampa Bay before Tuesday, allowed six runs and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Rangers 7, Tigers 3

At Arlington, Texas, Ian Kinsler drove in three runs and rookie Elvis Andrus homered and had three hits for Texas.

Kinsler, who was in a huge funk at the plate that shrunk his batting average from .272 to .242., highlighted a four-run second with a two-run triple. Kinsler had just 16 hits in his last 103 at-bats.

Detroit is 4-8 since the All-Star break and has scored three runs or less eight times in that span.

Former Tigers reliever Jason Grilli (1-1) pitched two perfect innings. The Rangers' bullpen shut out the Tigers on one hit over the final five innings.

Luke French (1-2) allowed six runs and eight hits over five innings of his fifth big-league start.

Royals 4, Orioles 3, 11 innings

At Baltimore, Mark Teahen led off the 11th inning with a 45-foot single and scored on a single by John Buck for Kansas City.

The Royals' second straight win gave them their first winning streak since a three-game run on July 4-6. Billy Butler hit a two-run homer and Willie Bloomquist added a solo shot for Kansas City.

Teahen opened the 11th by topping a ball down the first-base line. Catcher Matt Wieters and pitcher Danys Baez (4-4) watched the ball stop on the chalk halfway down the line.

Jamey Wright (1-3) pitched two perfect innings and Joakim Soria got three outs for his 17th save.

Angels 7, Indians 6

At Anaheim, Calif., Gary Matthews Jr. hit a tiebreaking three-run double in the eighth inning, and Los Angeles survived another meltdown by All-Star closer Brian Fuentes for their major league-leading 33rd comeback victory.

Juan Rivera's RBI single tied it earlier in the eighth for the Angels, whose latest remarkable rally made up for another poor performance by their starting rotation and closer. Matthews capped the comeback with a two-out drive to left-center off reliever Tony Sipp, the Indians' third pitcher of the inning.

Matt Palmer (9-1) pitched two solid innings in relief of struggling starter Jered Weaver for the Angels, who have won 13 of 16 despite losing their previous two.

Peralta homered and drove in two runs, and Ben Francisco homered as the Indians lost for the second time in eight games. David Huff (5-5) pitched into the eighth inning for the Indians.

Mariners 4, Blue Jays 3

At Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki singled with two outs in the ninth to score Rob Johnson, and Seattle snapped a four-game losing streak.

Suzuki golfed the pitch nearly off the dirt and in front of center fielder Vernon Wells for the first game-ending hit of his career.

David Aardsma (3-3) got the win pitching the ninth. He allowed a leadoff single but retired the next three batters.

Jack Hannahan singled off Downs (1-3) to lead off the ninth, his third hit of the game. Johnson walked and Chris Woodward bunted, reaching when Downs couldn't handle the roller. After two outs, Suzuki got his third hit of the game.

[Associated Press; By JON KRAWCZYNSKI]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.