The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 47

"Sports Monday, June 20, 2005 THE EXAMINER. 47 Mll2MILIL TIGERS 10, GIANTS 8 (10 INNINGS) tow Tigers home runs if A's shortstop Bobby Crosby, left, throws to first as Phillies' David Bell tries to break up a double play in the second inning. Crosby's relay nabbed Jimmy Rollins at first base. MAKCIOJOSESANCHEZAP ft A'S 5, PHILLIES 2 Blssnfton teolsisig Fasties9 Another sham BOX SC0HE 1. DUANE BUKLESONAP on the ninth inning, during which he BOH SCORE Tigers 10, Giants 8 (10 Innings) A's 5, Phillies 2 Philadelphia AB Bl BB SO Avg.

Rollins ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .277 Lofton cf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .386 BAbreudh 2 1 1 0 2 0 .324 Burrelllf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .305 Thome lb 2 0 0 0 2 0 .217 Michaels rf 4 0 2 2 0 1 80 Utley 2b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .307 DaBell 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .258 Lieberthal 4 0 0 0 0 0 .240 Totals 32 2 2 4 9 Oakland AB Bl BB SO Avg. Kotsaycf 4 0 0 0 1 1 .277 Swisher rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .224 Crosby ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .313 EChavez3b 4 1 2 1 0 0 .250 Hattcbergdh 4 1 1 0 0 1 .278 Kieltylf 4 1 2 0 0 1 .283 DJohnsonlb 4 1 3 0 0 0 .262 KGinter 2b 3 11111 .188 Melhuse 4 0 1 2 0 1 .132 Totals 34 5 11 4 3 6 Philadelphia 200 000 000 2 6 1 Oakland 000 014 OOx 11 in 10thf 11th void Linden's blast Associated Press DETROIT Trading for Plac-ido Polanco is looking better each day for the Detroit Tigers. Polanco, acquired from Philadelphia on June 8, homered with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning and gave Detroit a 10-8 win over the Giants on Sunday. "A high fastball inside," Polanco said of the pitch he hit over the left-center field fence off of Scott Eyre. "Just trying to get a fastball." Polanco's home run came an inning after Chris Shelton hit tying two-run shot.

Rondell White also homered for the Tigers. Todd Linden and Lance Niekro hit home runs for San Francisco, which lost two of three in Detroit and finished the six-game road trip After Omar Infante flied out to start the 10th, Brandon Inge sin? gled to center field off Eyre (1-1). Polanco then followed with his first home run in a Detroit uniform. "He's a pretty good hitter," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "He got a hittable pitch that he hit out." Since joining the Tigers, Polanco is hitting .378 with a home run and seven RBIs.

He's also played well defensively at second base. "The first thing that comes to my mind with Polanco is that this guy is a good ballplayer" Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. Jamie Walker (3-3) pitched a scoreless inning for the win. Linden's three-run homer in the top of the ninth off Troy Percival gave the Giants an 8-5 lead. However, Detroit tied it against Tyler Walker in the bottom half on Craig Monroe's sacrifice fly and Shelton's homer.

"I didn't execute my pitches. That's the bottom line," Walker said. Giants starter Jesse Foppert lasted just 3Va innings. He allowed four runs on four hits, walked six and struck out three. Pitching on three days' rest, Tigers starter Mike Maroth gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings.

He walked three and struck out one. San Francisco took a 2-0 lead in the second on Adam Shabala's first major league hit, a bases-loaded single. White led off the bottom of the inning with his eighth home run to make it 2-1. Detroit then loaded the bases with one out in the inning, but Infante was called out on strikes and Inge flied to center to end the inning. Detroit tied it 2-2 in the third on Monroe's bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

4j Giants closer Tyler Walker reflects gave up three runs to tie the game. "I didn't execute my pitches. That's the bottom line." Giants closer Tyler Walker on allowing three ninth-inning runs fourth to chase Foppert, who was replaced by Jeff Fassero. Dmitri Younggreeted him with a run-scoring double and Fassero's wild pitch brought in the second run of the inning. Niekro's two-run homer in the fifth tied the game 4-4.

Niekro had missed five games since fouling a ball off his left big toe in batting practice Tuesday in Minnesota. GA Giants vs. Diamondbacks WHEN: Today, 7:15 p.m. WHERE: SBC Park RADIO: KNBR (680 AM) STARTING PITCHERS: San Francisco AB Bl BB SO Avg. Ellison cf 0 1 0 1 1 .311 DCruzss 5 1 3 1 0 0 .296 Vizquelss 1 0 0 0 0 0 .300 Niekro lb .6 1 2 2 0 0 .309 Aloudh 5 0 1 0 0 2 .306 1-Tuckerpr-dh 0 1 0 0 0 0 .256 Durham 2b 3 110 10 .277 Feliz 3b 3 1 0 0 2 2 .272 Torrealbac 5 1 1 0 0 2 .250 Linden rf 3 2 1 3 2 0 .190 Shabala If 4 0 2 2 0 1 .222 Totals 40 8 12 8 6 8 Detroit AB Bl BB SO Avg.

Inge 3b 6 1 2 0.0 2 .306 Polanco 2b 4 3 1 2 2 0 .378 DYoungdh 5 0 1 1 0 1 .257 RoWhite If 4 2 2 1 1 0 .304 IRodriguez 4 1 2 0 0 1 .298 Monroe rf 2 0 0 2 1 0 .265 Shelton lb 4 112 10 .302 AGomezcf 3 1 0 0 2 2 .000 Logan cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .297 Infante ss 4 12 111 .227 Totals 36 10 11 9 8 7 San Francisco 020 020 013 0 12 0 Detroit 011 200 013 2 10 11 1 outing by roolde give A's series win Associated Press OAKLAND Joe Blanton is figuring out what it takes to be a big-league pitcher. Blanton pitched effectively into the eighth inning and Eric Chavez homered, leading the A's over the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 Sunday at McAfee Coliseum. "I'm getting more comfortable with challenging hitters and getting ahead Blanton said. "You can get away with things in the minors, but here if you don't make your adjustments in a hurry you, won't be in the game very long." Blanton gave up two runs in the first inning but didn't allow anyone past second the rest of the way as he won for the third time in four starts. Blanton sought out A's pitching coach Curt Young after the rough start, and got a good tip.

"Early on, I was dropping my arm a little bit," Blanton said, "When I started getting back on top better, I got the ball down and that helped me." Blanton (3-6) has been a completely different pitcher since a six-start stretch in which he lost three games and had an ERA of 12.13. He has a 2.60 ERA in four games since and limited the Phillies to a pair of runs in 7 innings Sunday. He gave up five hits while striking out a season-high seven and walking four. "I started setting up middle of the plate to let his natural movement take over," A's catcher Adam Melhuse said. "He makes one adjustment and that's all it takes.

Rather than getting behind, we wanted to take it to them a little bit." Melhuse drove in two runs for the A's, who won for the fifth time in seven games. After the first inning, Blanton kept the Phillies in check the rest of the way, retiring 20 of the final 25 batters he faced. E-Rollins (7). IQB-Phlladclphia 7, Oakland 8. 2B-BAbreu (14), Michaels (7), Melhuse (2).

HR-EChavez (11), off Lieber. RBIs-Michaels 2(15), EChavez (39), KGinter (21), Melhuse 2 (5). GIDP-Rollins, Swisher. Runners left in scoring position-Philadelphia 4 (Thome, Michaels, Utley 2); Oakland 3 (Kotsay, Crosby 2). DP-Philadelphia 2 (Utley, Rollins and Thome), (Utley and Thome); Oakland 1 (DJohnson, Crosby and Blanton).

Philadelphia IP ER BB SO NP ERA Lieber 8-6 5.1 8 5 4 1 6 96 4.63 Madson 1.2 2 0 0 1 0 15 3.40 Urbina 1 1 0 0 1 0 21 8.31 Oakland IP ER BB SO NP ERA Blanton 3-6 7.2 5 2 2 4 7 116 5.19 Flores 1 .1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 2 15 1.56 Inherited runners-scored-Madson 2-2, Flores 1-0. Umpires-Home, Doug Eddings; First, Bruce Dreckman; Second, Bill Hohn; Third, Gerry Davis. IT GAi A's vs. Mariners WHEN: Today, 7:05 p.m. WHERE: Safeco Field, Seattle RADIO: KFRC(610AM) STARTING PITCHERS: Mariners Aaron Sele W-L ERA Innings Walks Strikeouts 6-5 3.79 76 28 33 A's Dan Haren 4-7 4.14 87 31 67 One out when winning run scored.

1-ran for Alou in the 9th. E-lnge (11). LOB-San Francisco 10. Detroit 9. 2B-DYoung (15), Infante (15).

3B-lnfante (2). HR-Polanco (1). off Eyre; Shelton (2). off Ty Walker; Linden (1), off Percival; Niekro (8), off Maroth; RoWhite (8), off Foppert. RBls-DCruz (9), Niekro 2 (25), Linden 3 (3), Shabala 2 (4).

Polanco 2 (7). DYoung (32), RoWhite (35), Monroe 2 (44), Shelton 2 (10), Infante (21). SB-IRodriguez (4), Infante (4). S-Shabala. SF-Monroe 2.

GIDP-Niekro, DYoung. Runners left in scoring position-San Francisco 6 (DCruz 3, Niekro, Feliz, Torrealba); Detroit 7 (Inge 2, Polanco, DYoung, IRodriguez, AGomez 2). Runners moved up-Polanco, DYoung. DP-San Francisco 1 (DCruz, Durham and Niekro); Detroit 1 (Infante, Polanco and Shelton). D'backs Giants Javier Noah Vazquez Lowry San Francisco IP ER BB SO NP ERA Foppert 3.1 4 4 4 6 3 83 6.00 Fassero 2.2 2 0 0 0 3 38 3.78 Munter 2 1 1 1 1 0 26 2.04 1 2 3 3 1 1 22 5.28 Eyre 1-1 .1 2 2 2 0 0 13 3.38 Detroit IP ER BB SO NP ERA Maroth 5 7 4 4 3 2 78 4.39 German 1.2 2 0 0 1 1 32 2.39 Spurling .1 0 0 0 0 1 6 1.89 Farnsworth 1 1 1 1 1 0 15 2.54 Percival 1 2 3 3 1 3 32 4.42 1 0 0 0 0 1 12 1.88 Inherited runners-scored-Fassero 2-2, Spurling 2-0.

HBP-by German (Durham), by Foppert (IRodriguez). WP-Fassero. Balk-Foppert Umpires-Home, Larry Poncino; First, Mark Wegner; Second, Paul Nauert; Third, Gary Darling. 7-4 4.30 92 12 82 W-L ERA Innings Walks Strikeouts 3-6 5.59 74 30 61.