Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez and Juan Uribe hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning and tied a major league record as the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 9-2 to complete a three-game sweep on Thursday. Thome's two-out, three-run shot, was his 25th this season and 532nd of his career. Konerko followed and Ramirez hit his before Robinson Tejeda came on to pitch. Uribe, homerless in his 107 previous at-bats, greeted him with his fourth of the year to make it 9-2. Chicago set a club record with the four straight homers, and it was the sixth time it had occurred in major league history. The Boston Red Sox were the last team to accomplish the feat, doing it against the New York Yankees in April 2007. Carlos Quentin extended a much more painful streak in the first inning, when he was hit by a pitch from Kyle Davies (5-4). Quentin has been plunked in his last six games and a major league-high 20 times this year. Rays 7, Athletics 6, 12 innings: At Oakland, California, reliever Brad Ziegler's record scoreless streak was ended, and Carlos Pena homered leading off the 12th to give Tampa Bay the win. The A's lost their ninth consecutive series for the first time since 1979. Tigers 5, Blue Jays 1: At Detroit, Edgar Renteria hit a tiebreaking two-run double in Detroit's five-run eighth inning and the Tigers avoided a four-game sweep against Toronto. Orioles 11, Indians 6: At Cleveland, Lou Montanez hit a tiebreaking double during an eight-run eighth inning, and Baltimore beat Cleveland for a split in their four-game series. Astros sweep Giants In Houston, Lance Berkman hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to help the Houston Astros down the San Francisco Giants 7-4 for their eighth straight win in the National League on Thursday. With the score tied in the eighth, Miguel Tejada led off with a single against reliever Keiichi Yabu (3-5). The Giants then replaced Yabu with Alex Hinshaw, who allowed Berkman's 25th home run of the year. Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 2: At Denver, Chris Snyder and Chris Burke hit consecutive homers in a five-run fifth inning, leading Dan Haren and Arizona over Colorado. Padres 3, Brewers 2: At San Diego, Jake Peavy outpitched Ben Sheets with seven strong innings for San Diego to snap Milwaukee's eight-game winning streak. Cubs 11, Braves 7: At Atlanta, a brief benches-clearing skirmish and only the second cycle in Atlanta history couldn't stop Chicago from completing its first season sweep of the Braves. Elsewhere it was: Mets 9, Nationals 3; Reds 3, Pirates 1; Dodgers 3, Phillies 1.
