A’s Again Ride Stairs in Sweep of White Sox

Matt Stairs ran into a welcoming committee at home plate: his Oakland Athletic teammates.

Stairs triggered the high-fiving, back-slapping celebration Sunday with his latest game-ending homer, a two-out, two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning at Oakland to give the A’s a 7-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox and their first four-game sweep of the White Sox in 29 years.

Stairs, who matched his career high with his 27th homer, has made a habit of getting the big hit. Sunday’s drive, following a walk to John Jaha, was his third game-ending homer of the season.

Doug Jones got the victory after blowing a save in the top of the ninth. He was one out away from the finish when Magglio Ordonez connected for his 26th homer, a solo shot that made the score 5-5.

Toronto 8, Texas 7--Carlos Delgado continued his torrid hitting against the Rangers, and Darrin Fletcher hit a tie-breaking home run to lead the Blue Jays at Arlington, Texas.

Delgado went three for four with three RBIs, making him 11 for 18 against the Rangers this season. He singled home Toronto’s second run in the first, walked in the fourth, chased Texas starter John Burkett with the third of three consecutive Blue Jay doubles in the fifth and hit his 30th home run, a solo shot in the seventh.

Needing a triple for the cycle, Delgado hit the ball to deep left-center, but Roberto Kelly made a nice catch against the wall.

New York 9, Seattle 3--David Cone won for the first time since his perfect game and Scott Brosius had a career-high five RBIs as the Yankees completed a four-game sweep at Seattle.

Cone (11-6), who was 0-2 with a no-decision since the perfect game against the Montreal Expos on July 18, gave up three hits and two runs over six innings. He was chased when Alex Rodriguez led off with a single and later scored on Edgar Martinez’s single, making the score 7-1.

Minnesota 7, Kansas City 3--Chad Allen hit a two-run homer to spark a five-run seventh inning at Kansas City as the Twins rallied for their first road sweep of the Royals since May 1988.

The Royals’ Mike Sweeney went two for four to extend his career-long hitting streak to 20 games.

Tampa Bay 5, Cleveland 3--Mike DiFelice and Paul Sorrento homered and Terrell Lowery hit three doubles for the Devil Rays at St. Petersburg. Fla.

Wade Boggs, who got his 3,000th hit Saturday, doubled in his only at-bat before taking the rest of the day off.

Detroit 5, Baltimore 2--Tony Clark singled in the tie-breaking run as the Tigers batted around in the 11th inning at Baltimore.