Athletics continue nose dive

Baseball roundup

Baker, Tolbert lift Twins past slumping Indians

June 07, 2011|Associated Press

Matt Wieters gets a hand from on-deck batter Nick Markakis after scoring… (Greg Fiume/Getty Images )

Matt Wieters had two hits and an RBI, and Brian Matusz earned his first victory of the season as the Orioles beat Oakland, 4-2, last night in Baltimore to extend the Athletics’ losing streak to a season-high seven games.

Adam Rosales homered for the A’s, who have lost 15 of 19 to fall a season-worst seven games under .500 (27-34). Rosales was playing in his first game of the year after a stint on the disabled list with a broken right foot. Gio Gonzalez (5-4) took the loss, allowing four runs, three earned, and nine hits in seven innings.

Matusz (1-0), who spent the first two months of the season on the DL with a strained oblique muscle, allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 ⅓ innings. The lefthander was lifted in the sixth after giving up successive one-out singles to Kurt Suzuki and pinch hitter Scott Sizemore, who was recalled from Triple A Sacramento hours earlier. Jim Johnson entered and got Rosales to bounce into a 1-6-3 double play.

Johnson retired the side in order in the seventh, Koji Uehara worked a perfect eighth, and Kevin Gregg a perfect ninth for his 11th save.

Twins 6, Indians 4 —Scott Baker survived a shaky start and Matt Tolbert drove in two runs as visiting Minnesota extended its season-high winning streak to five games by defeating Cleveland, which lost its fifth in a row.

Baker (3-4) bobbed and weaved his way around trouble and stayed in until the eighth, allowing three earned runs and nine hits.

Josh Tomlin (7-3) lasted six innings for the Indians, who led the AL Central by seven games as recently as May 23 but dropped their seventh straight at home. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Michael Brantley added a solo shot for Cleveland.

Brewers 7, Marlins 2 — Prince Fielder homered and drove in four runs to help visiting Milwaukee complete its first four-game sweep since August 2008.

Zack Greinke (5-1) allowed two runs in seven innings. He won his fifth consecutive decision and lowered his ERA to 4.83.

The Marlins lost a season-worst fifth in a row. They’ve dropped eight of 10 since sweeping the Giants. Javier Vazquez (3-5) lasted only four innings and left trailing, 6-2. His ERA rose to 6.50.

Fielder hit a three-run homer, his 14th, and added an RBI single. Ryan Braun had two hits and scored twice for the Brewers.

Tigers 13, Rangers 7 — Brennan Boesch had two of visiting Detroit’s four home runs against Texas while setting career highs with five hits and five RBIs, and Max Scherzer (7-2) pitched long enough for his first win in nearly a month.

Scherzer gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings. All of Detroit’s homers came off Colby Lewis (5-6), who gave up nine runs in 3 ⅓ innings. Andy Dirks and Alex Avila also homered for the Tigers.