MINNEAPOLIS – Jacque Jones had two doubles, a triple and four RBIs, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 Sunday to stretch their winning streak to five.

Luis Rivas hit a two-run homer and Doug Mientkiewicz had three hits for Minnesota, which completed a three-game sweep. The Twins have scored four or more runs in 10 of their first 12 games.

Joe Randa homered and doubled, and Tony Graffanino had three singles for Kansas City, which has lost six in a row – the Royals’ longest losing streak since dropping eight straight from Sept. 1-10, 2002.

Joe Roa (1-0) allowed one hit and struck out two in 2 1-3 scoreless innings for his first victory with the Twins. Starter Seth Greisinger lasted just four innings, giving up three runs – two earned – and six hits.
White Sox 5, Devil Rays 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Esteban Loaiza pitched a two-hitter to remain perfect in April over the past two seasons, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-0 Sunday to match their best start in 12 years.

Jose Valentin and Paul Konerko hit solo homers for the White Sox, who improved to 8-4 for the first time since 1992.

Loaiza (3-0) allowed a one-out single to Tino Martinez in the fifth and a one-out single in the seventh to Aubrey Huff, who stopped an 0-for-14 slump. The only Tampa Bay runner to get past first was Carl Crawford, who walked and stole second in fourth.
Orioles 7, Blue Jays 0
TORONTO – Eric DuBose, B.J. Ryan and Buddy Groom combined on a four-hitter, pitching the Baltimore Orioles past the struggling Toronto Blue Jays 7-0 Sunday for their fourth straight victory.

Toronto fell to 0-6 at home and 3-9 overall, matching the worst start in club history.

Miguel Tejada had four hits and Jay Gibbons hit a two-run double for the Orioles, who swept the three-game series – their first sweep at SkyDome in 10 years.
Indians 9, Tigers 7
CLEVELAND – Matt Lawton hit two homers, scored four runs and drove in four to lead the Cleveland Indians over the Detroit Tigers 9-7.

Carlos Guillen homered and had four RBIs for Detroit, which lost center fielder Alex Sanchez to a strained left groin in the seventh inning.

Sanchez barely made it to second base on an RBI double – hopping the final 40 feet on his right leg and falling on the bag. He was helped to his feet by trainers, who assisted him to the dugout.
Mariners 4, Rangers 2
SEATTLE – Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer, Bret Boone and Scott Spiezio added a solo shots, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 Sunday for their first series victory this season.

Joel Pineiro (1-1) allowed two runs, six hits and four walks in 6 2-3 innings and struck out five, a strong recovery after he got roughed up in his first two starts after signing a $14.5 million, three-year contract.

Trailing 3-2, Texas threatened in the eighth when David Dellucci was hit by a pitch from Ron Villone with two outs, but Shigetoshi Hasegawa came on to strike out Kevin Mench.
Athletics 7, Angels 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Rookie Bobby Crosby homered and drove in three runs, and Barry Zito pitched six solid innings to lead the Oakland Athletics over the Anaheim Angels 7-1.

Zito (2-1) allowed a run and four hits over six innings, striking out four and walking one. The two-time All-Star is 51-3 when he gets at least four runs of support.

and 12-27 when he doesn’t.

Chris Hammond pitched the final three innings of the five-hitter for his first save.

Kelvim Escobar (0-1) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings and struck out seven. The right-hander, who signed a three-year, $18.75 million contract with the Angels after going 13-9 with a career-high 159 strikeouts last year for Toronto, has allowed nine runs over 17 2-3 innings in his three starts.

Zito, who hit only six batters last season in 231 2-3 innings, plunked Darin Erstad and David Eckstein in the first three innings. Eckstein was grazed on the back of the leg leading off the third, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Garret Anderson that tied it 1-all.

But Damian Miller led off the fourth with a double, advanced on Marco Scutaro’s infield hit and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mark Kotsay to give Oakland a 2-1 lead.

Crosby chased Escobar in the sixth with a two-out drive to into the lower seats in the left-field corner scoring Bobby Kielty, who avoided an inning-ending double play by beating Eckstein’s relay throw to first. Crosby’s second homer extended the margin to 4-1.

Scott Hatteberg opened the scoring with a two-out, run-scoring single in the first. The Athletics put it away with three more runs in the seventh off Ben Weber, including Crosby’s sacrifice fly and RBI singles by Kielty and Miller.

Notes: The three sellouts against Oakland drew a combined 130,555 to Angel Stadium. … Zito, Hudson and Mulder are a combined 25-14 with a 3.48 ERA in 48 starts against Anaheim. The only Angels players to homer off all three are Anderson (eight combined) and Tim Salmon (three combined). … Oakland’s Eric Chavez, who entered this series with a .333 career average against the Angels, ended an 0-for-17 drought with a seventh-inning single. … Eight-year NL veteran Vladimir Guerrero was 1-for-12 in his first series against Oakland with three strikeouts, and did not hit a ground ball in the three games. His only hit was a two-run homer off Mulder.

AP-ES-04-18-04 2317EDT