Seattle falls 2 games behind Boston in the AL wild-card race.
By The Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. – Ted Lilly volunteered as an emergency fill-in, then pitched another gem right when Oakland needed it.

Lilly won his sixth straight start in place of the injured Rich Harden and Mark Ellis hit his first career grand slam as the Athletics avoided a three-game sweep by second-place Seattle with a 12-0 win Sunday.

Billy McMillon had three hits and drove in two runs as the defending AL West champions lowered their magic number to three. The A’s lead the Mariners by four games.

Reds 4, Phillies 3

PHILADELPHIA – Tim Hummel singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Cincinnati Reds rallied past Philadelphia 4-3 Sunday, preventing the Phillies from taking over the NL wild-card lead.

The struggling Reds won two of three at Veterans Stadium. The sold-out Fan Appreciation Day crowd of 57,883 saw the Phillies stay a half-game behind Florida.

Jim Thome hit his 44th homer, a three-run shot that put the Phillies ahead 3-1 in the fourth. But Philadelphia starter Vicente Padilla couldn’t keep the lead.

Braves 8, Marlins 0

ATLANTA – Greg Maddux became the first pitcher in major league history to win at least 15 games in 16 consecutive seasons, leading the Atlanta Braves over the Florida Marlins 8-0 Sunday.

Maddux (15-11) had shared the record of winning 15 or more games in 15 straight seasons with Cy Young.

Yankees 6, Devil Rays 0

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Roger Clemens earned his 309th career victory and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-0 Sunday to move closer to clinching their sixth straight AL East title.

The Yankees have won 13 of their last 15 games.

Clemens (16-9) allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings. The victory moved him ahead of Hall of Famer Hoss Radbourn into 17th place on the all-time list, two behind Tom Seaver.

Royals 10, White Sox 4

CHICAGO – Rondell White hit a two-run homer and Aaron Guiel drove in three runs as the Kansas City Royals sent the Chicago White Sox to another big loss, 10-4 Sunday.

Chicago (81-74), which trailed 4-0 before it came to the plate, has dropped eight of 11, falling 5 games back of first-place Minnesota.

Rockies 5, Padres 3

DENVER – Larry Walker and Rene Reyes hit two-run homers, Chin-hui Tsao pitched six solid innings and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 5-3 on Sunday.

Tsao (3-3), the first Taiwanese-born pitcher in major league history, allowed two runs and five hits, striking out a career-high seven and walking three. Brian Fuentes got five outs for his fourth save in six chances.

Brewers 6, D-backs 4

MILWAUKEE – Richie Sexson, Keith Ginter and Bill Hall homered to help Wes Obermueller get his first major league win as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 Sunday.

Obermueller (1-5) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings with three walks and one strikeout.

Cardinals 6, Astros 4

ST. LOUIS – Edgar Renteria had a key two-run double to back Sterling Hitchcock as the St. Louis Cardinals beat Houston 6-4 Sunday, cutting the Astros’ NL Central lead to a half-game over Chicago.

So Taguchi hit a two-run homer for St. Louis, which took two of three from Houston and closed within four games of the lead with a week to go in the regular season.

Twins 6, Tigers 4

MINNEAPOLIS – Brad Radke won his sixth straight decision and the Minnesota Twins beat Detroit 6-4 Sunday, sending the Tigers to their AL record-tying 117th loss.

Detroit dropped its ninth straight game and fell to 38-117, tying the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117) for the second-most losses in a season since 1900.

Dodgers 7, Giants 5

LOS ANGELES – Shawn Green started the Dodgers with the first of their four homers, and Los Angeles beat the San Francisco Giants 7-5 Sunday to close within 2 games of the NL wild-card lead.

Cubs 4, Pirates 1

PITTSBURGH – Mark Prior gave the Cubs the dominating start they needed, striking out 14 in 7 2-3 innings as Chicago shook off two straight damaging losses to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 Sunday.

Aramis Ramirez, traded by the Pirates to the Cubs two months ago, hit two solo homers to help give Chicago a split in the four-game series.

The Cubs had missed chances to gain ground on NL Central leader Houston by losing 10-6 in the second game of a doubleheader Friday night and 8-2 Saturday night, and they began Sunday 1 games out of the division lead. The Astros played St. Louis.

Prior (17-6) was in control from the start against a Pirates team that has played well down the stretch against contenders. He gave up six hits – three in the eighth – and retired 15 in a row at one point, nine on strikeouts.

Abraham Nunez doubled with one out in the eighth to stop that streak and scored on Tike Redman’s single. Prior, appearing to tire, was lifted after Jack Wilson’s walk and Jason Kendall’s single loaded the bases. Mike Remlinger came on to strike out former Cubs infielder Jose Hernandez. It was Hernandez’s 174th strikeout.

Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his 32nd save in 36 chances.

Prior has become a prime contender for the NL Cy Young Award with an exceptional second half, going 9-1 in 10 starts since coming off the disabled list Aug. 4. He has lost only once since July 11, pitching two complete games and at least eight innings three other times.

He reached double digits in strikeouts for the 13th time in his career and the seventh time this season.

The Cubs, shut down Saturday night by rookie Ryan Vogelsong, jumped on another rookie, Oliver Perez (4-10), for four singles in a span of five batters to take a 2-0 lead in the first. Ramirez, who drove in three runs, and Eric Karros had RBI singles.

The left-handed Perez, apparently bothered by a blister on his pitching hand, was lifted after giving up five hits and walking two 1 2-3 innings. Nelson Figueroa came on to give up Ramirez’s solo homer in the second – Ramirez’s 100th RBI of the season – and Ramirez homered again leading off the sixth against Joe Beimel.

Ramirez has more homers (14) in two months with the Cubs (14) than he did in 31/2 months with the Pirates (12).

Notes: The Pirates drew 1,636,751 in their third season in PNC Park, down from 1,784,993 in 2002 and 2,436,139 in 2001. They went 12-6 in the final 18 home games and 39-42 overall at home. They have yet to have a winning record at home since PNC Park opened … The Cubs open a three-game series Tuesday in Cincinnati. They have six games remaining, including a three-game series in Wrigley Field next weekend against the Pirates, while the Astros have seven left. … The Pirates scored 27 runs in the first three games of the series.

AP-ES-09-21-03 1622EDT