Rodriguez Joins an Exclusive Club

Alex Rodriguez joined Hall of Famer Ernie Banks in an exclusive club Tuesday night.

Rodriguez hit his 40th home run, becoming the second shortstop in major league history to reach the mark in four consecutive seasons, and the Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 10-1, at Minneapolis.

Rafael Palmeiro, Randy Velarde and Frank Catalanotto also connected for the Rangers, who lead the majors in home runs with 199. Texas has hit 28 homers in its last 14 games.

The loss, coupled with Cleveland’s 8-3 victory over Boston, dropped the Twins 51/2 games behind the Indians in the American League Central. Minnesota is 14-31 since the All-Star break, with losses in nine of its last 11 at the Metrodome.

Rodriguez and Banks (1957-60) are the only shortstops with four consecutive 40-homer seasons. Rodriguez was the ninth player overall to do it, joining Banks, Babe Ruth, Harmon Killebrew, Ken Griffey, Jr., Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ralph Kiner and Duke Snider.

“He’s the best shortstop of all time,” Texas Manager Jerry Narron said. “He’s hard to believe. He’s as intelligent of a player as I’ve ever been around. He has a true love and passion for this game. You have to see him every day to fully appreciate how good he is.”

Rodriguez and Palmeiro each had two-run homers in helping Texas take a 5-0 lead after three innings against Rick Reed (2-3). Velarde added a solo shot in the sixth and Catalanotto hit a three-run homer in the seventh.

Darren Oliver (11-8) gave up three hits and one run in seven innings.

Reed has allowed 51 hits and 23 earned runs in 291/3 innings for a 7.05 ERA in his six starts since he joined Minnesota in a July 30 trade with the New York Mets.

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Tampa Bay 6, Seattle 0--Paul Wilson threw seven impressive innings, giving up six hits and striking out seven, to win at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Ichiro Suzuki reached 200 hits, getting two hits to raise his AL-leading average to .349. Only two other rookies--Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra (1997) and Kansas City’s Kevin Seitzer (1987)--have recorded 200 hits in a season since 1964.

Rookie Toby Hall had three hits and Chris Gomez hit an inside-the-park home run for the Devil Rays.

New York 4, Toronto 0--Mike Mussina pitched eight scoreless innings to lead the Yankees at New York. Derek Jeter had three hits and Tino Martinez homered for the Yankees. Mussina (13-11) gave up six hits, two walks and struck out six as he didn’t allow a run for the second time in three starts.

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Cleveland 8, Boston 3--Dave Burba, demoted to the bullpen earlier this month, pitched seven strong innings for his first win since July 19, leading the Indians at Cleveland. Burba (10-8) gave up four singles and walked in one run.

Kenny Lofton hit a two-run home run and Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar each had two RBIs for the Indians.

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Oakland 6, Baltimore 2--Mark Mulder gave up four hits in eight innings and Ramon Hernandez and Jason Giambi homered as the A’s won at Baltimore.

Mulder (16-7) gave up two first-inning runs and blanked the Orioles the rest of the way, keeping Baltimore hitless after the second inning.

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Chicago 8, Detroit 6--Jose Valentin hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning as Chicago overcame a five-run deficit to win at Detroit.

Four of Valentin’s last six hits have been home runs.