AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Former Angel Day for Winfield, Gaetti, Parrish

Not that the first-place Cleveland Indians really needed a boost, but they got one anyway from 43-year-old Dave Winfield in a 7-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday before a sellout crowd of 41,736 at Cleveland.

Fifteen games into the Cleveland leg of his career, Winfield had no home runs, no runs batted in, a .212 batting average and an out-of-whack swing.

One pitch seemed to change all that.

“My first home run, first RBI, and to help us get back in the game. It was really special,” Winfield said after his three-run home run in the sixth inning off Wilson Alvarez helped the Indians overcome a six-run deficit.

Cleveland scored all its runs from the sixth inning on, finally taking the lead on Tony Pena’s eighth-inning RBI double. It marked the eighth time this year the Indians won a game in the eighth inning or later; they’ve trailed at some point in 12 of their 19 victories.

The Indians signed Winfield in April because of their problems against left-handers: They were 14-19 in games started by left-handers a year ago.

After spotting Chicago a 6-0 lead, the Indians scored four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Winfield’s three-run shot, his 464th home run. They tied it in the seventh on an RBI single by Carlos Baerga and a run-scoring groundout by Eddie Murray.

Kansas City 12, Texas 0--Bob Boone knows how to manage a hot hitter. “I’m just going to pencil in the name ‘Gary Gaetti’ every time and forget about it,” the Royals’ manager said after Gaetti hit a grand slam and a solo home run, driving in six runs at Kansas City.

Gaetti, who appeared washed up with the Angels in 1993, has six home runs in five games, 10 for the season, and the Royals are on a five-game winning streak.

“It’s a good thing I’m swinging the bat well, because I feel like a three-toed sloth on defense,” said Gaetti, who also had a single and double. “I just don’t feel comfortable at all on defense.”

Wally Joyner, another former Angel, drove in four runs as the Royals stopped the Rangers’ winning streak at four.

Toronto 5, Detroit 4--Lance Parrish hit two home runs for the Blue Jays at Toronto, his first multi-homer since July 17, 1992, when he hit two against Toronto as a member of the Angels.

On Saturday, Parrish hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot in the seventh inning, to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 victory over Cleveland.

He had no plate appearances Sunday, and in his first at-bat Monday, in the second inning, he hit a two-run homer to give Toronto a 4-0 lead. He added a solo shot in the eighth.

David Cone (4-3) gave up seven hits over eight innings to get the victory.

Minnesota 7, Milwaukee 5--Pedro Munoz homered and drove in three runs as the Twins handed the Brewers their eighth consecutive home loss.

Milwaukee’s Fernando Vina hit his first major league home run in the first inning. It was only the Brewers’ second homer in their last 126 innings at County Stadium and their 12th overall.

Boston 9, Oakland 6--Mike Macfarlane’s three-run homer highlighted a six-run fifth inning as the Red Sox took advantage of eight walks to win at Oakland.

Zane Smith (1-1) got his first American League victory, giving up five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Seattle 8, New York 7--Rich Amaral led off the bottom of the 12th inning with a home run off Scott Bankhead at Seattle.