AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Coleman Helps Royals Defeat White Sox, 7-5

Vince Coleman had a home run, double, stolen base and scored two runs in his first major league game of the season as the Kansas City Royals defeated the White Sox, 7-5, Sunday at Chicago.

“He did good, didn’t he? He got us started, just what we needed,” said Kansas City Manager Bob Boone. “There probably won’t be any changes in the one hole. He gives a little more stability to it.”

Coleman, called up from triple-A Omaha on Saturday when outfielder Phil Hiatt was hospitalized because of a collapsed lung, went two for four and walked once from the leadoff spot.

Coleman was hitting .395 in triple-A.

The 33-year-old outfielder was a free agent in the offseason and decided on the last day of spring training to re-sign with the Royals for $250,000. He made $3 million in 1994.

The Royals acquired him in a trade with the New York Mets in January 1994. Coleman did not play for the Mets after July 31, 1993, because of the firecracker incident that injured a 3-year-old girl at Dodger Stadium a week earlier.

Cleveland 10, Minnesota 9--Kenny Lofton grounded an RBI single up the middle with one out in the 17th inning to give the Indians a victory at Cleveland in the longest game ever, by time, for both teams.

The game lasted 6 hours 36 minutes, and the two teams used 47 players, including 17 pitchers and all 30 of their position players. There were six home runs, 44 hits and 39 runners left on base.

Cleveland’s Eddie Murray, now hitting .442, had two home runs.

Oakland 8, Texas 6--Dave Stewart stopped another losing streak for the Athletics, who took advantage of Kevin Gross’ lack of control at Oakland. Gross (0-2) walked eight in 3 1/3 innings.

Boston 12, Detroit 1--John Valentin went four for five with a homer and three RBIs and Vaughn Eshelman remained unscored upon in 13 innings this season as the Red Sox pounded the Tigers at Detroit.

Milwaukee 9, New York 1--Kevin Seitzer hit a grand slam and Greg Vaughn had two RBIs for the third consecutive game to lead the Brewers at New York.

Baltimore 6, Toronto 2--Mike Mussina outpitched David Cone to earn his first victory of the season and Rafael Palmeiro extended his home run streak to three games as the Orioles beat the Blue Jays at Baltimore. Brady Anderson had three hits, extending his hitting streak to nine games.