AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Minor Leaguer Makes Bid for Permanent Spot With Athletics

Oakland’s Scott Brosius is developing a knack for grand entrances.

The Oakland rookie who made his major league debut last August with a double and home run in his first two at-bats topped that Monday night at Cleveland after being recalled from Tacoma earlier in the day.

This time he hit homers in his first two at-bats and wound up going four for five to lead the A’s to a 13-4 victory over Cleveland.

“It’s just something where you kind of ride the wave when it starts to happen,” Brosius said. “It’s a good lesson for me. I wasn’t feeling particularly good physically, because I was working on about three hours’ sleep.”

Brosius, who arrived in Cleveland only a couple of hours before the game, drove in three runs and scored four. Troy Neel, who was called up from Tacoma last week when Jose Canseco went on the disabled list, homered, doubled and singled.

Together, the two rookies had seven hits, three home runs, five RBIs and seven runs scored. Lance Blankenship drove in four runs with a pair of doubles.

The A’s salvaged a split of their four-game series against the Indians, who had beaten them six consecutive times before Oakland won the last two games.

Mike Moore (9-7) improved to 2-0 in July after going 1-4 in June. He gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings.

Texas 3, Milwaukee 1--Ranger pitcher Kevin Brown won his fourth game in a row and became the major league’s first 13-game winner in the victory over the Brewers at Arlington, Tex.

Brown, who set a career high for victories in one season, surpassing his 12-9 record of 1989, gave up seven hits in 8 1/3 innings, struck out eight and walked two before Jeff Russell finished for his 20th save.

Milwaukee, swept Sunday in a doubleheader against Kansas City, went ahead in the second when Franklin Stubbs singled and B.J. Surhoff doubled on a fly misjudged by left fielder Kevin Reimer.

Texas went ahead in the bottom of the inning when Rafael Palmeiro singled and Ivan Rodriguez hit his eighth home run. Dean Palmer hit his 14th home run of the season in the third inning.

Baltimore 4, Chicago 3--The Orioles stranded 21 runners but finally won the game at Baltimore in the 14th inning when Mike Devereaux singled with the bases loaded.

Baltimore has stranded 56 in its last four games, and is six for 46 with runners in scoring position in its last three games.

Leo Gomez opened the 14th with a walk off White Sox reliever Roberto Hernandez (2-1) and took third on Tim Hulett’s one-out single. Brady Anderson was intentionally walked, loading the bases, and Devereaux singled past a drawn-in infield.

Alan Mills (6-1) pitched two innings of one-hit relief.

Minnesota 10, New York 5--Kirby Puckett doubled in two runs in a four-run third inning at New York and pinch-hitter Shane Mack added a two-run double as the Twins rallied twice against the Yankees to win their third in a row.

Carl Willis (3-2) gave up two hits in 4 1/3 innings in his longest outing this season, and Mark Guthrie pitched three innings for his second save. Bill Krueger lasted only 1 2/3 innings, the shortest stint of any Twin starter this season.

Danny Tartabull homered for the fourth consecutive game. His three-run drive in the first inning, his 10th homer of the season, gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Tartabull has driven in at least one run in each of the last five games with nine RBIs in that span.

Tim Leary (5-6) gave up six runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings and walked four. Reliever Jeff Johnson gave up four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Detroit 5, Seattle 4--Skeeter Barnes ended the longest Tiger home game in seven years with a sacrifice fly that scored Tony Phillips with the winning run in the 14th inning. The game lasted 4 hours 23 minutes.

Tiger pitcher Bill Gullickson, 7-0 against the Mariners, could have ended the game in the ninth inning and won his 10th game. He had a 4-2 lead with two outs in the ninth when he walked Jay Buhner. Pete O’Brien followed with a home run to tie the score.

Phillips led off the 14th with a walk. Lou Whitaker then bunted and both runners were safe when reliever Mike Walker (0-3) threw wildly trying to force Phillips at second. Travis Fryman then sacrificed to advance both runners and Cecil Fielder was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Barnes lifted a fly ball to right fielder Buhner, who had already thrown out two runners at the plate. Phillips slid in ahead of catcher Lance Parrish’s tag.

John Kiely (2-0) pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for the win.

Kansas City 6, Boston 3--Rick Reed held the Red Sox to five hits in 6 2/3 innings at Boston and the Royals ended a three-game losing streak.

It was the first victory as a starter in more than two years for Reed, who was supported by a 12-hit attack.

Keith Miller drove in three runs with a double and a bunt single, and Kevin McReynolds hit a solo homer for the Royals.

Reed was replaced by Rusty Meacham with two out in the seventh after Mo Vaughn’s fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot, cut the lead to 6-3. Meacham finished up for his first save.