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  Saturday, Sep. 9 4:05pm ET
Oakland hits season-high six homers
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Tim Hudson has been given a new nickname. Now, his teammates call him "Mini-Pedro."

Hudson put on Martinez-like performance Saturday, pitching a two-hitter as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10-0.

"He's always outstanding," said Jason Giambi, who hit two homers to back Hudson. "He's our guy to stop losing streaks. Every time he goes out there we know we have a chance to win."

Terrence Long, Ben Grieve, Miguel Tejada and Ramon Hernandez also connected as the A's set a season high with six homers. Oakland homered in each of the first five innings.

Hudson (16-6) allowed just two runners in his second shutout of the season. He walked none and struck out four.

"I just wanted to throw strikes and let the guys behind me make plays," said Hudson, who improved to 27-8 in 49 career starts. "I had some breaks and was able to do well when I got the opportunity."

John Flaherty singled in the third inning and was the only Devil Rays player to get as far as second base. Gerald Williams singled in the sixth.

"He got a lot of quick outs," Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild said. "He knew what to do with the lead. He got a lot of ground balls and when we did hit it hard, it went right to people."

Hudson's other shutout was a one-hitter in a 3-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 28.

Giambi hit both off his homers against Albie Lopez (11-11) and drove in three runs. Giambi has a career-high 34 home runs.

"I had nothing," said Lopez. "I didn't have my fastball. I didn't have location. I couldn't put the ball anywhere to get people out."

Long doubled to open the first and one out later, Giambi homered into the right-field bleachers. It was the third time a ball was hit there since the Coliseum was remodeled in 1996 -- Colorado's Larry Walker and Oakland's Jose Canseco both did it in 1997.

Grieve followed with a home run.

"(Lopez) didn't have his best stuff, but we got in a groove and put it together," said Giambi. "We felt like we needed to push across some runs early."

In the second, Eric Chavez led off with a single, then trotted home on Hernandez's 14th homer of the year.

Giambi led off the third with a home run over the center-field fence. Long's 17th homer, a two-run shot in the fourth that barely cleared the fence down the right-field line, ended Lopez's day.

"I just concentrate on hitting the ball and going from there," Giambi said.

Tejada's two-run homer in the fifth came off Trevor Enders.

Lopez allowed a season-high eight runs on eight hits.

Game notes
Giambi has four multi-homer games this season and 12 for his career. ... Grieve grounded into his major-league leading 27th double play, his first in 22 games. ... Hernandez ended a streak of 76 at-bats without a home run. ... The Devil Rays have lost 10 of the last 12 games against Oakland. ... Lopez remains tied with Rolando Arrojo for most victories in Tampa Bay history (21). ... Devil Rays prospect LHP Bobby Seay earned the save in Team USA's 5-3 win over Australia on Saturday in pre-Olympic action. ... Tampa Bay TV analyst Joe Magrane left for Sydney following Saturday's game to serve as the color analyst for the Olympic baseball coverage. ... Hudson pitched his third career complete game. ... Long, who was 3-for-5, has six multi-hit games in eight September games.
 


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RECAPS
NY Yankees 5
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Cleveland 9
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Oakland 10
Tampa Bay 0

Toronto 6
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Colorado 7
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Houston 14
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Philadelphia 6
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