AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : A’s Outlast Twins to Move Within One of First

Sometimes, Tony La Russa doesn’t know which players will be able to play until right before the first pitch.

But there are two players the Oakland Athletic manager knows he can count on.

Mark McGwire and Dennis Eckersley took charge again Tuesday night at Minneapolis, when Rickey Henderson and Jose Canseco were again missing from the lineup.

McGwire hit two home runs, driving in five runs, and Eckersley retired all six batters he faced to extend his record to 32 saves in 32 opportunities in a 12-10 victory over the Minnesota Twins that moved the A’s to within one game of first place in the American League West.

“Thank God, Eck came in and blocked the field goal,” McGwire said. “It was just amazing. We’d score and they’d score, back and forth. But we’ve got Eck. Yeah, we feel pretty good when he’s on the mound.”

In addition to 22 runs, there were 31 hits in the game.

But the Twins couldn’t do anything against Eckersley, who threw 23 strikes in his 27 pitches.

McGwire, who leads the majors with 31 home runs and has 80 runs batted in, kept Oakland close before the A’s scored six runs in the sixth inning to take the lead. The key hit was a two-run triple by Eric Fox, Henderson’s replacement in left.

Minnesota’s Scott Erickson, pitching with three days of rest for only the second time in his career, had a 6-2 lead going into the fifth. But McGwire, who hit a 429-foot blast in the first inning, hit a three-run home run to make it 6-5.

The A’s jumped on Tom Edens, who had won five in a row and had an earned-run average of 1.79, for the six runs in the sixth.

Texas 2, Boston 1--Juan Gonzalez hit his second home run of the game in the 10th inning at Boston to give the Rangers the go-ahead run.

Right fielder Ruben Sierra made the lead stand up when he threw out pinch-runner Luis Rivera trying to score from second on Billy Hatcher’s one-out single in the bottom of the 10th. Rivera appeared to have the throw home beaten, but catcher Ivan Rodriguez blocked the plate and Rivera never touched home.

Gonzalez, who had two home runs Sunday at Baltimore, broke a scoreless tie with his 23rd home run with two out in the sixth. His one-out drive in the 10th was a towering drive to right-center.

“In the 10th I was looking for the one pitch I could drive out of the park,” Gonzalez said. “I got it.”

Toronto 6, Kansas City 4--Candy Maldonado and Kelly Gruber hit consecutive home runs in the third inning at Toronto and put an end to the Blue Jays’ three-game losing streak.

Maldonado opened the third against Dennis Moeller (0-1) with his 10th home run. Then, Gruber, who had been sidelined for 21 games because of a knee injury, followed with his ninth. It was Gruber’s first home run since May 26 and his first extra-base hit in his last 75 at-bats.

Jimmy Key (7-8) gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings to get the win. Moeller, making his major league debut, gave up four runs, three earned, in 4 1/3 innings.

Baltimore 5, New York 2--The Orioles ended a two-game losing streak at New York to stay four games behind Toronto.

Mike Devereaux provided the offensive support for Ben McDonald (10-7). Devereaux homered and tripled and drove in two runs and scored twice.

McDonald, in only his third victory in his last 11 starts, went eight innings. He gave up two runs on eight hits and had nine strikeouts. Gregg Olson pitched the ninth for his 24th save.

Cleveland 4, Milwaukee 2--A sharp performance by Rod Nichols at Cleveland slowed the charge of the Brewers in the East.

Nichols held Milwaukee to four hits and two runs in seven innings, earning only his second victory of the season. Mark Lewis hit his fourth home run and the Indians hammered Ricky Bones (6-7) for 10 hits and four runs in five innings.

Chicago 8-5, Detroit 6-3--There were a lot of firsts at Detroit.

The White Sox won for the first time all week and liked it so much they won two.

Shawn Abner hit his first home run of the season and Alex Fernandez won for the first time since being recalled from the minors.

Abner’s home run helped Fernandez, who gave up three runs and eight hits in 7 2/3 innings, win for the first time in more than a month. Carlton Fisk hit his first home run of the season with a runner on in the first inning of the opener.

Frank Thomas and Craig Grebeck also hit two-run home runs.