Sorrento, Cora Pick Up Slack

Paul Sorrento and Joey Cora drove in two runs apiece and the Seattle Mariners, playing without Ken Griffey Jr. for only the second time this season, handed the Chicago White Sox their sixth consecutive loss, 8-5, Thursday in Chicago.

Sorrento had three hits, including his 12th homer, and Cora had three hits.

Griffey, injured during Wednesday night’s game against Toronto while fouling off a pitch, had hand surgery Thursday. He will be sidelined about a month.

Norberto Martin went four for five for the White Sox, who dropped five games behind Cleveland in the AL Central after being tied for first place on June 10.

Toronto 1, Oakland 0--Pat Hentgen gave up two hits over eight innings, and Ed Sprague tripled home the game’s only run as Toronto won its fourth in a row at Oakland.

Hentgen (7-5) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Ernie Young led off with a double. He struck out five and walked three before giving way to Mike Timlin, who pitched the ninth for his 12th save.

Rookie Don Wengert (2-5) lost his third consecutive decision despite giving up only one run and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings.

Baltimore 3, Texas 2--Brady Anderson moved into a tie for the major league lead with his 25th home run and David Wells earned his first win in a month as the Orioles won at home.

Rafael Palmeiro also homered for the Orioles, who defeated Texas for only the second time in 10 games this season.

Cleveland 5, Boston 4--Kenny Lofton singled home Jeromy Burnitz with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth in Cleveland as the Indians won their 13th in a row over Boston.

The Indians trailed, 4-3, in the eighth when Jim Thome hit a game-tying homer off Roger Clemens.

Manny Ramirez also homered for Cleveland, which set a club record by homering in its 17th consecutive game.

Minnesota 7, Detroit 3--Cecil Fielder’s first Tiger Stadium homer since April 28 wasn’t enough to prevent Detroit from losing its fifth game in a row.

Bobby Higginson, batting leadoff for the first time in his career, homered twice for the Tigers.