AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Karkovice’s Slam Helps White Sox Roll, 17-11

Record or no record, Robin Ventura wants Ron Karkovice to keep hitting grand slams.

Karkovice tied Ventura’s team record with his fifth career slam on Sunday, helping the Chicago White Sox overcome six more errors for their first victory of the season, a 17-11 win over the Red Sox before 30,658 at Boston.

Chicago has committed 19 errors in its first five games--six of them by Ventura. He botched another one on Sunday when he overthrew first on Jose Canseco’s seventh-inning ground ball, allowing Boston two unearned runs to close the gap to 13-8.

Ventura made only 14 errors in all of 1993 as he won his third consecutive Gold Glove at third base.

Karkovice’s grand slam in the top of the eighth made it 17-8. The White Sox gave up three more unearned runs in the eighth and ninth. “When I hit it, it didn’t seem like it was going to (affect the outcome),” Karkovice said. “Now, it seems like we needed it.”

Karkovice joined Ventura and Harold Baines as the only White Sox players in the team’s 95-year history to hit five grand slams in their career.

Mike Devereaux had a two-run shot as he and Tim Raines each had three of Chicago’s 17 hits.

Milwaukee 4, Oakland 3--Opposing pitchers have long complained about the high mound at Milwaukee County Stadium. Now a catcher, Oakland’s Terry Steinbach, can too.

Steinbach’s hard line drive off reliever Graeme Lloyd hit the mound and took a strange hop to shortstop Jose Valentin, who turned a double play that helped the Brewers hold off the Athletics before 9,175.

Steinbach said he thought he had a routine single to center and couldn’t believe the ball caromed off the left side of the mound the way it did.

Brewer second baseman Pat Listach said, “I thought it was a base hit to center field. I thought, ‘Here we go. One-run game, first-and-third, nobody out.’ Then the ball hits the mound and kicks right to him. I was looking out in center for the ball and I hear Jose say, ‘I got it, I got it.’ I was surprised.”

Baltimore 6, Minnesota 3--Jeffrey Hammonds, the ninth hitter in the Oriole lineup, hit a three-run, 377-foot home run in the second inning to help the Orioles win before 16,302 at Minneapolis. Arthur Rhodes struck out a career-high nine for Baltimore.

Hammonds had reconstructive knee surgery in October and played for the first time Sunday without a brace on his right knee.

“Believe me, today was a great breakthrough day for me,” Hammonds said.

Leadoff hitter Brady Anderson and Chris Hoiles also hit solo home runs for the Orioles, who went deep nine times in four games at the Metrodome. Eight different players have hit home runs, with No. 7 hitter Andy Van Slyke the only player with two.

Cleveland 7, Texas 6--Albert Belle and Eddie Murray each singled and scored in the 12th inning at Arlington, Tex., ending the Indians’ eight-inning span of wasting runners and giving them a victory over Texas before 26,026.

Kansas City 9, New York 3--Kevin Appier, pitching on three days of rest, struck out eight in six innings for the Royals at Kansas City, as the Yankees lost for the first time after three victories. The game drew only 14,028 despite free tickets in the outfield stands.

Detroit 10, Seattle 1--Mike Moore pitched six strong innings to get his second victory of the season and the Tigers broke open a tight game with a six-run fifth inning for a win over the Mariners before 19,743 in Seattle.