AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Davis Has Good Debut, but Tigers Lose

Frank Thomas homered and drove in four runs to spoil Eric Davis’ American League debut and lead the Chicago White Sox to an 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night at Detroit.

Thomas’ homer was a three-run shot, and his RBI increased his major league-leading total to 117. Davis, playing his first game since being acquired Tuesday from the Dodgers, had two hits, including a homer, scored twice and drove in three runs. He also made two nice plays in center field.

Rookie Jason Bere (7-5) increased his career record to 3-0 against Detroit, pitching one-hit ball for four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. He ended up allowing three runs and five hits in seven innings, walking three and striking out eight.

Cleveland 7, New York 3--Bob Ojeda won for the first time since the boating accident that killed two of his teammates, pitching the Indians past the struggling Yankees at New York.

Rookie Manny Ramirez, a former New York City prep sensation, hit his first two major league home runs and a double as Cleveland won its third in a row.

Despite the loss, the Yankees didn’t lose any ground in the AL East race. They remained two games behind Toronto, which lost to the Angels 4-1. New York has not been three games out since Aug. 3.

Ojeda (1-1), on the disabled list for most of the season since the March accident in Florida that killed pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews, won in his fourth start. He shut out the Yankees until the sixth inning when Mike Stanley hit a two-run homer.

Ojeda gave up six hits, struck out four and walked two in 5 2/3 innings.

He received a nice ovation when he was relieved, and tipped his cap to the crowd. Many of the 29,041 fans were probably aware of Ojeda’s rough road of recovery.

Minnesota 9, Texas 5--David McCarty snapped out of a three-month slump with two doubles, two singles and two RBIs as the Twins beat the Rangers at Minneapolis.

Dave Winfield homered for his 2,992nd career hit and Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek added two-run shots as the Twins won for only the second time in their last 11 home games.

Kansas City 5, Boston 1--Kevin Appier allowed two hits in six innings and Royals hit three solo homers to defeat the Red Sox at Boston.

Appier (15-6) lowered his ERA to 2.83 while winning his fourth straight decision. He has an ERA of 1.70 in his last six starts.