Mike Scioscia did his best to deflect all the attention away from him. It was hard to do with all the kudos coming the Angels manager’s way after his latest accomplishment.
Los Angeles beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1 on Friday night, making Scioscia the winningest manager in franchise history. The victory was Scioscia’s 626th during the regular season, eclipsing Bill Rigney’s total.
Scioscia has managed the Angels in 1,134 regular-season games, 168 fewer than Rigney – the team’s first manager.
“It’s a nice achievement,” Scioscia said. “But I think it reflects far more on the organization, the good talent coming through here and the great teams that have been put on the field than anything I’ve done personally. I’m happy for everyone who can share in this, including our coaching staff and our minor league staff.”
Kelvim Escobar (3-1) allowed a run and six hits in seven innings, helping send Chicago to its fifth straight loss. The right-hander struck out four and walked two. Scot Shields pitched two perfect innings for his second save.
In other AL games, it was: Baltimore 3, Cleveland 2 in 10 innings; Seattle 15, New York Yankees 11; Boston 2, Minnesota 0; Texas 7, Toronto 1; Detroit 6, Kansas City 3; and Oakland 5, Tampa Bay 2.
Chicago’s Darin Erstad lost a flyball in the twilight during his first game back at Angels Stadium, resulting in an RBI double by Mike Napoli.
Erstad, who won two Gold Gloves in center field and another at first base during his 11 big league seasons with the Angels and caught the final out when they won the 2002 World Series, received a standing ovation when he came up the first time and doffed his batting helmet to the sellout crowd of 44,126 before flying out.
Jose Contreras (2-3) was charged with four runs and six hits in six-plus innings. He struck out six and walked three. Three of the runs were unearned, the result of his throwing error in the second inning.
The Angels placed left fielder Garret Anderson on the 15-day disabled list before the game because of a torn tendon in his right hip.
Orioles 3, Indians 2, 10 innings
Nick Markakis singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th, giving the Orioles a comeback victory.
Jay Payton homered and scored the decisive run for the Orioles, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Markakis drove in the final two runs for Baltimore, which improved to 2-14 when trailing after seven innings.
Casey Blake homered for the visiting Indians, whose four-game winning streak ended. Tom Mastny (2-1) got the loss.
Chris Ray (3-2) worked two innings to cap a fine performance by the Baltimore bullpen, which retired 12 of 15 batters.
Mariners 15, Yankees 11
Yuniesky Betancourt hit a tiebreaking two-run double in an eight-run fifth inning, and the Mariners ended New York’s three-game winning streak.
Jose Guillen, Kenji Johjima, Betancourt and Jose Lopez – the bottom four batters in Seattle’s starting lineup – combined to go 9-for-18 with 10 RBIs as visiting Seattle scored its most runs in three years. The first eight Mariners reached base in the fifth inning against Kei Igawa, Colter Bean (0-1) and Luis Vizcaino, a half-inning that took 30 minutes.
Eric O’Flaherty (1-0) got his first major league win. J.J. Putz got two outs for his sixth save.
Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui homered for the Yankees, who led 5-0 after one.
Red Sox 2, Twins 0
At Minneapolis, Tim Wakefield limited Minnesota to three hits in seven innings and David Ortiz homered to lead Boston to its third straight win.
Wakefield (3-3) didn’t allow a runner past second base against the AL’s top-hitting team. J.D. Drew tripled in the ninth and scored on Coco Crisp’s single, and Jonathan Papelbon got the last three outs for his ninth save.
Carlos Silva (2-2) allowed just one run over seven innings, but got nothing from an offense that flailed helplessly at 61-mph knucklers all night.
Torii Hunter had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 19 games for the Twins, who lost their third straight.
Rangers 7, Blue Jays 1
Hank Blalock hit a two-run homer, Brandon McCarthy pitched six sharp innings and Texas snapped a five-game losing streak.
McCarthy (2-4) allowed one run and two hits with four walks. He began the night with a 9.90 ERA, having allowed 17 runs over six innings in his previous three starts.
Kenny Lofton also homered for the Rangers, who managed only 10 runs during the skid.
Tomo Ohka (2-3) gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 7 1-3 innings. Sal Fasano homered for the Blue Jays, who’ve lost four straight overall and 14 of their last 17 in Arlington.
Tigers 6, Royals 3
Justin Verlander maintained his mastery of Kansas City and Detroit won its fifth straight.
Verlander (2-1) gave up seven hits and two runs in seven-plus innings. Todd Jones worked the ninth for his league-leading 11th save.
In six career starts against the Royals, Verlander is 5-0 with a 1.58 ERA. In Kauffman Stadium, he’s 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA.
Carlos Guillen hit a two-run double off Brian Bannister (0-2) in the first inning and singled and scored in the Tigers’ four-run fifth.
Athletics 5, Devil Rays 2
At St. Petersburg, Fla., Nick Swisher hit a tiebreaking three-run homer with two outs in the ninth for Oakland.
Shannon Stewart walked and Mark Ellis singled off Gary Glover (0-2) with one out in the ninth. Brian Stokes replaced Glover and struck out Eric Chavez before Swisher hit a 2-2 pitch into the right-field stands.
Justin Duchscherer (3-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Huston Street got the final three outs for his eighth save.
Elijah Dukes homered for Tampa Bay.
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