AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Van Poppel Gets a Quick Lesson

Mo Vaughn showed Todd Van Poppel how much he needs to improve to pitch in the big leagues.

Vaughn took advantage of a shaky Van Poppel, hitting his first grand slam and driving in five runs. Billy Hatcher added four more runs batted in as the Boston Red Sox beat the Athletics, 11-9, Thursday at Oakland.

Oakland’s Troy Neel hit two home runs and drove in seven runs.

“I can feel for Todd because I had the same kind of hype coming in,” Vaughn said. “He’s going to be good. You really don’t know what would have happened had we not jumped on him in the first.”

But they jumped hard on Van Poppel, a high-school phenom drafted by the A’s in 1990.

Making his second major league start and first since September of 1991, Van Poppel walked the first three batters before striking out Andre Dawson. Vaughn then drove a 3-and-1 pitch over the left-field fence for his 13th homer.

Van Poppel lasted three-plus innings and gave up eight runs.

John Dopson (7-5) was the winning pitcher. Jeff Russell, who had blown his last two save opportunities against the Angels, pitched the ninth for his 19th save.

Kansas City 6, Detroit 5--Mike Macfarlane doubled home the winning run with one out in the 11th inning at Kansas City.

Hubie Brooks doubled with one out off Buddy Groom (0-1), the sixth Tiger pitcher. After an intentional walk to Kevin McReynolds, Macfarlane doubled.

Jeff Montgomery (3-2), Kansas City’s only selection for the All-Star game, pitched two perfect innings for the victory.

Detroit’s Mickey Tettleton, left off the All-Star team when the AL announced its reserves earlier in the day, hit his 24th homer and drove in three runs, giving him 72 RBIs.

Chicago 12, Baltimore 5--For the second time in six days, the White Sox battered Rick Sutcliffe. This time, they won.

Bo Jackson homered in Chicago’s six-run first inning, and Ellis Burks had a homer and five RBIs. Ron Karkovice also homered and Tim Raines had four hits for Chicago, which led, 10-0, after three innings and coasted to its fourth victory in five games.

On Saturday, Sutcliffe (8-4) gave up six hits, three walks and four runs in 3 1/3 innings, but Baltimore rallied for a 9-6 victory.

In the rematch, Sutcliffe was yanked after giving up six runs before getting three outs.

Texas 6, Toronto 1--After a five-inning pitchers’ duel, the Rangers scored six times in the sixth, taking advantage of Jack Morris’ wildness at Toronto and sending the Blue Jays to their seventh loss in eight games.

Kenny Rogers (6-6) pitched a five-hitter, striking out a career-high 10 and walking two.

David Hulse started the Ranger sixth with a walk. Julio Franco singled and the runners moved up on a wild pitch. Morris (5-9) retired Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez, but walked Dan Peltier, Ivan Rodriguez and Doug Strange, forcing home two runs.

Mario Diaz chased Morris with a two-run double, and Jon Shave greeted Woody Williams with a two-run double.

Morris, whose earned-run average went from 7.27 to 7.41, gave up six runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Milwaukee 15, Minnesota 3--Billy Spiers drove in five runs and the Brewers, behind a six-run first inning and a season-high 23 hits, won at home.

B.J. Surhoff, who had four RBIs, and Greg Vaughn had four hits each for the Brewers.

Ricky Bones (6-5) gave up eight hits over eight innings to win his third decision in a row.