Red Sox Rout Royals, 22-11

It was the ninth inning of a long night in Kansas City, and infielder David Howard was pitching for the Royals. That’s how bad it was.

Scott Cooper needed a single to finish hitting for the cycle. That’s how good it was.

“I didn’t know he was going for it,” Howard said. “I threw him two lob pitches because the changeup was called for and that’s the only changeup I know.”

Cooper hit it for his single in Boston’s 22-11 victory that made a bad situation worse in Kansas City.

“I wouldn’t have done that if I would have known he was going for it because it’s something you might have one chance in a lifetime for,” Howard said of his pitch to Cooper. “I told him that when I got to third base after my (ninth-inning) hit.”

The Royals fell to 1-5, the third consecutive season they have gotten off to a terrible start. Kansas City started out 2-9 last season and was 1-16 in 1992. But even the Royals had never seen anything this brutal.

“We were just lucky to get it over with,” Royals Manager Hal McRae said. “What can I say? You might as well forget it. It was one of those games you would like to throw out and forget about. It’s always embarrassing to give up 22 runs.”

Cooper drove in five runs in the highest-scoring game ever against the Royals. He went five for six with two doubles, and became the first Boston player to hit for the cycle since Mike Greenwell in 1988.

He also reached on an error by Howard, then a shortstop.

“I’m from Missouri, from St. Louis,” Cooper said. “I had my brother and uncle here. I’ll remember this night for the rest of my life. Hitting for the cycle. I was excited.”

Mo Vaughn homered, tripled and drove in four runs for Boston in its biggest burst since a 24-5 romp over Cleveland on Aug. 21, 1986.

The Red Sox got 15 hits, 11 for extra bases. They also took advantage of 13 walks and three errors.

Boston ripped Kansas city ace Kevin Appier (0-2) for six runs in the first inning, then added eight runs in the sixth off Stan Belinda on only two hits. Danny Darwin (2-0) pitched six innings for the victory.

“It’s a little on the humiliating side. It’s a little demoralizing,” catcher Mike Macfarlane said.

Chicago 10, New York 5--Frank Thomas and rookie Joe Hall homered at Chicago, leading Wilson Alvarez and the White Sox to their third consecutive victory.

Alvarez (2-0) won his 10th decision in a row, including a victory over Toronto in last year’s playoffs. He pitched 6 1/3 innings in sending the Yankees to their third loss in a row.

Hall hit his first major league home run and had two singles. Thomas hit a 426-foot homer and drove in three runs.

Oakland 8, Toronto 4--Toronto pitchers issued 12 walks, four of them to Rickey Henderson, and the Athletics won at Oakland despite being outhit, 9-2.

The A’s did not get a hit after the first inning, but took advantage of four errors in snapping Toronto’s four-game winning streak.

Six walks in two-plus innings by Paul Spoljaric (0-1) set the tone for Toronto’s pitching.

With Oakland up, 3-2, in the third inning, Spoljaric walked the first three batters and was behind, 2-and-0, to Mark McGwire. Scott Brow came on and walked in a run, and Geronimo Berroa’s shallow fly ball got another run home when second baseman Roberto Alomar fell making the catch.

Oakland scored three times in the bottom half of the fifth inning without a hit, thanks to two errors by Alex Gonzalez at shortstop and two runs forced home by walks.

Seattle 12, Minnesota 0--Ken Griffey Jr. hit a 462-foot home run into the Seattle Kingdome’s center-field stands, helping send Dave Fleming and the Mariners past the Twins.

Griffey’s fourth homer of the season, a three-run shot, gave the Mariners a 7-0 lead in the second inning.

The Twins lost their fifth consecutive game and are 1-7 for the first time in history.