By Jim Cour
The Associated Press

SEATTLE - It's mid-April and the Oakland Athletics were already playing with a sense of urgency.

"Obviously, nobody wants to get on a streak of six losses," said Tim Hudson, who outpitched Freddy Garcia again as the A's ended a six-game losing string with a 4-1 win over Seattle on Wednesday night.

"It was nice, it definitely was," Hudson said. "Hopefully, we can get on a different streak now."

Eric Chavez gave Hudson (2-1) all the offense he needed with a two-run home run in the first inning, his second homer in two nights and his third of the season.

"All the pitchers know we're struggling right now so they want to pitch good," Chavez said. "We knew what we had to do tonight."

Erubiel Durazo hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Giovanni Carrara, Seattle's second pitcher.

The Mariners had a four-game winning string broken.

"Huddy had great stuff," said A's manager Ken Macha, who had a funny story to tell on Chavez after his team's much-needed victory.

"Eric broke his bat and the kid (bat boy) came and picked out a bat," Macha said. "Then he went up there and hit the home run with it. Then he came in for his next at- bat and said he didn't like that bat. I said, 'How can you not like that bat?"'

The key to the game was Hudson, who beat Seattle for the second time this season. He limited the Mariners to five singles and no walks, with seven strikeouts in eight innings.

He beat Garcia and the Mariners 5-0 on April 1 in Oakland, when he pitched eight scoreless innings. In two starts against Seattle in 2003, he's allowed one run on 10 hits, including a double, with two walks and 11 strikeouts in 16 innings.

Hudson threw only 92 pitches, 66 for strikes. He went to ball three on only one hitter, Mark McLemore in the fourth when he wound up with a strikeout.

"I was able to go out there and just throw strikes," Hudson said. "I didn't have a lot of deep counts."

Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his fourth save in four opportunities.

Until Durazo's homer, Hudson was in line to pitch his first complete game of the season.

"Hudson was going back out," Macha said. "Foulke was going to be ready."

Garcia (1-3) pitched well, but not well enough. In seven-plus innings, he gave up two runs on four hits and four walks, with three strikeouts.

With two outs in the first, Chavez homered 357 feet down the right-field line as Ichiro Suzuki watched hopelessly as the ball sailed into the seats with Miguel Tejada aboard on a fielder's choice.

Chavez confirmed Macha's story about the bat he didn't like. He was coerced into using it in his next at-bat in the fourth, when he struck out swinging.

"It's just too big, too heavy," Chavez said. "I like skinny bats. The manufacturer actually messed it up."

Red Sox 6, Devil Rays 4

BOSTON - David Ortiz hit a tying, two-run single and Jeremy Giambi's RBI double put Boston ahead as the Red Sox rallied for four runs in the eighth inning.

Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra homered for Boston, which won its third straight.

With the Red Sox trailing 4-2 in eighth, Todd Walker drew a leadoff walk from Travis Harper. One out later, Ramirez singled off Lance Carter (3-1) and moved to second when left fielder Carl Crawford made an ill-advised throw to third.

Ortiz followed with a single up the middle to tie it.

Giambi drove in Hillenbrand, who walked, with a double off the center-field wall and scored on Trot Nixon's single to make it 6-4.

Chad Fox (1-2) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the win.

Blue Jays 7, Yankees 6

NEW YORK - Carlos Delgado hit a three-run homer and Dave Berg's RBI double broke a sixth-inning tie as Toronto beat New York to snap a six-game losing streak.

Toronto starter Cory Lidle (2-2) blew a 5-0 lead in the fifth, but the Blue Jays bounced back to beat New York for the first time in six meetings this season.

David Wells, who pitched a three-hit shutout against Minnesota in his last start and entered with a 0.53 ERA, gave up 11 hits and five runs in five innings.

The Blue Jays took a 6-5 lead in the sixth on Berg's RBI double off little-used reliever Sterling Hitchcock (0-1), making just his second appearance of the season.

Orioles 4, Indians 3

CLEVELAND - Melvin Mora led off the ninth inning with his first home run of the season to give Baltimore a comeback win over Cleveland.

Mora, batting .118 entering the ninth, hit a 2-1 pitch from Danys Baez 400 feet into the seats in left-center. Baez (0-1) had blown a 3-2 lead in the eighth by walking Tony Batista for the tying run.

Buddy Groom (1-0) pitched 1 2-3 perfect innings, striking out two. Jorge Julio struck out pinch-hitter Bill Selby for the final out and his second save.

Milton Bradley singled in the first inning for Cleveland, extending his season-opening hitting streak to 14 games - longest by an Indians player since Toby Harrah hit in 14 straight to open 1982.

Twins 4, Tigers 2

MINNEAPOLIS - Corey Koskie had three hits and two RBIs, and Rick Reed combined with three relievers on a six-hitter as Minnesota beat Detroit for the 14th straight time.

The Tigers hadn't lost that many consecutive games to one opponent in their 103-year history. They lost 13 straight to the Cleveland Indians from May 14, 1996, to May 3, 1997.

Reed (1-2) pitched six innings, giving up six hits and two runs with five strikeouts for Minnesota, which won its fifth straight.

Detroit had runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh but Johan Santana entered and got Carlos Pena to pop out to right field on the first pitch.

Santana then pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.

White Sox 4, Royals 3

CHICAGO - Frank Thomas foiled a shift with a sacrifice fly in the bottom off the ninth, and fans were too busy trying to keep warm to cause any trouble as Chicago beat Kansas City.

One night after a fan ran out of the stands and tried to tackle umpire Laz Diaz, the focus was back on baseball at U.S. Cellular Field.

There was a noticeable increase in security, with 16 guards ringing the field during the half-inning breaks. Guards also stood near both dugouts, and others roamed the stands.

The only rudeness fans showed was to White Sox reliever Damaso Marte, and that was after he gave up the tying homer to Angel Berroa in the eighth inning. Jon Garland had pitched a gem, scattering three hits over seven innings to give Chicago a 3-1 lead, but Marte came in and promptly blew the lead.

With the bases loaded in the ninth, Royals manager Tony Pena put on a shift, giving Kansas City five infielders.

Jose Valentin popped out, but Thomas lined a ball perfectly to right field. Pinch-runner Tony Graffanino probably wouldn't have been able to score if the Royals had someone in right field, but the ball was barely in the infield when Graffanino was crossing the plate. Angels 9, Rangers 8

Angels 9, Rangers 8

ARLINGTON, Texas - Bengie Molina hit the go-ahead two-run single in a strange seven-run eighth inning that gave Anaheim a win over Texas.

The Angels sent 12 batters to the plate and scored four unearned runs in their rally. They benefited from a disputed play in which Tim Salmon slid into the infield grass to avoid a tag and a two-out error that allowed the tying run to score.

Darin Erstad and Salmon had consecutive RBI singles in the eighth, making it 6-4 before Garret Anderson hit what the Rangers thought was an inning-ending double play grounder.

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who hit two homers, fielded the ball on the first base side of second base and made a charge at Salmon, who slid down. Rodriguez then threw to first thinking he had completed a double play. Instead, umpire Jerry Layne ruled against the argument that Salmon had left the baseline.

Texas hit four more home runs, increasing their majors-leading total to 30. Carl Everett, who went 4-for-5, and Rodriguez went deep on consecutive pitches in the seventh.