AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Erickson Struggles, but Twins Still Win

The Minnesota Twins were glad to see Scott Erickson back on the mound. So, it turned out, were the Milwaukee Brewers.

Erickson struggled in his return from the disabled list, but the Twins still survived on home runs by Greg Gagne and Shane Mack to beat the Brewers, 11-7, at Milwaukee on Monday night.

Erickson gave up four hits, four walks and hit a batter in four innings, and left with an 8-5 lead. The Brewers’ Greg Vaughn hit a solo home run in the third inning and Franklin Stubbs hit a grand slam in the fourth.

“I’m not upset,” Erickson said. “It was a terrible effort on my part. The guys did a good job and I did terrible. Now I have a two-game awful streak.”

Erickson went into the game with a 12-3 record and a major league-leading 1.83 earned-run average. He was sidelined because of a sore elbow, and activated earlier Monday.

Mark Guthrie (6-5) pitched two innings for the victory and Steve Bedrosian got his fourth save.

Chicago 7, Boston 1--Frank Thomas hit two home runs and Carlton Fisk capped a five-run sixth inning with a two-run double at Chicago as the White Sox won their second game in a row.

Thomas tied the score with a homer into the center-field seats in the third inning and then put the White Sox ahead with his 16th homer over the left-field wall in the fifth.

Thomas hit two homers in a game for the first time, both against Mike Gardiner (3-3). Gardiner was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day after being sidelined because of a strained rib cage muscle.

Garcia (1-3) gave up a leadoff home run to Wade Boggs, his sixth. He gave up four hits and walked four, and left in the sixth with one out and two on. Ken Patterson pitched three innings for his first save.

Toronto 5, Kansas City 3--Kelly Gruber lined a single over a drawn-in infield with the bases loaded in the 12th inning as the Blue Jays outlasted the Royals at Kansas City.

After the Blue Jays escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 11th without giving up a run, Joe Carter drew a leadoff walk from Steve Crawford (2-1) in the Toronto 12th. John Olerud doubled and Rance Mulliniks was intentionally walked to load the bases.

After Gruber’s single made the score 3-2, Crawford hit Pat Borders with a pitch, forcing home another run. Mike Magnante then relieved and Cory Snyder had an RBI grounder for a 5-2 lead.

Reliever Mike Timlin (9-4) pitched two innings and Tom Henke worked the 12th for his 19th save in as many chances. George Brett and Danny Tartabull doubled in the Kansas City 12th.

The Royals loaded the bases in the 11th, but Kevin Seitzer and Brian McRae grounded into forceouts at the plate. Kurt Stillwell then tried to score from third when Timlin’s pitch got away from catcher Greg Myers, but Myers recovered to throw out Stillwell.

Oakland 6, Cleveland 1--Andy Hawkins pitched a four-hitter and Mike Gallego homered and doubled at Oakland as the Athletics sent the Indians to their 29th loss in 35 games.

Hawkins (4-5) struck out three and walked three in his first complete game since July 27. He improved to 4-3 since joining the Athletics on May 18, and has not given up more than three earned runs in any of his last seven starts.

Hawkins is 6-1 with a 1.20 ERA lifetime against Cleveland, including 2-0 with a 0.63 ERA in two starts this season. Denis Boucher (0-6) took the loss.

Gallego went three for three and drove in the game’s first two runs in the fourth with a double, sparking a five-run burst.

Detroit 8, Texas 7--Tony Phillips led off the ninth inning with his eighth homer of the year to lift the Tigers past the Rangers at Detroit.

Phillips hit a full count pitch from Mike Jeffcoat (3-2) into the second deck in left field for the fourth Detroit homer of the game.

Mike Henneman (6-2), now 31-6 at Tiger Stadium, pitched a perfect ninth inning. Jeffcoatretired three batters in the eighth.

Seattle 5, New York 1--Edgar Martinez came within a hit of the cycle for the second game in a row in leading the Mariners past the Yankees at Seattle.

Martinez, who had a homer, triple and two singles in a 14-3 victory over Cleveland Sunday, had a triple, single and double in his first three at-bats against New York, but lined out to center in the eighth.

Bill Krueger (6-3) lost his shutout bid in the seventh when Bernie Williams homered over the center-field fence, his second homer of the season.