AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Rodriguez Avoids Temptation and Beats Orioles

Scott Erickson had come home for the first time since being traded to Baltimore two weeks ago, and it seemed only right that he show around Frank Rodriguez, his former Minnesota Twin teammate for one day.

He offered to show Rodriguez the Minneapolis night life. Rodriguez declined, then, 12 hours later, pitched the Twins to a 5-2 victory over the Orioles and Erickson on Thursday afternoon in Minneapolis.

“I got a ride from Pat [Mahomes] back to the hotel last night and Erickson was in the car,” Rodriguez recalled. “He said, ‘Let’s go get some beers.’ And I said no way, man.”

Rodriguez (1-3), who came to the Twins in a July 6 deal with Boston, gave up three hits and a run in six innings. He walked five but got help from three double plays.

Greeted by more boos than applause when he was introduced before the game, Erickson (6-7), who was traded July 7 to Baltimore, pitched as he had in his last 2 1/2 seasons in Minnesota, a reason he’s no longer there.

He gave up singles to the first three batters in the fourth inning as the Twins took a 3-1 lead.

It was Erickson’s first loss with Baltimore after going 2-0 with a 2.08 earned-run average.

Cleveland 6, Texas 3--Sandy Alomar hit two home runs and Orel Hershiser (7-4) gave up two runs in six innings at Arlington, Tex., to give the Indians their seventh victory in eight games since the All-Star break.

Alomar went three for four and scored three runs, and his two-run homer in the seventh inning gave Cleveland a 4-2 lead. The Rangers have lost four in a row.

New York 8, Kansas City 4--Bernie Williams and Mike Stanley hit back-to-back home runs to cap a four-run sixth inning in the Yankees’ victory at New York.

Williams’ homer was a two-run shot off Royal reliever Billy Brewer (1-3) and Stanley followed four pitches later with his ninth to put the Yankees ahead, 5-3.

Kevin Appier held the Yankees to four hits over the first five innings before they broke through. Steve Howe (4-3) was the winner in relief.

Boston 3, Chicago 1--Mo Vaughn broke up a tie game in the seventh inning with his 25th homer and Jose Canseco also homered, leading the Red Sox to victory in a game delayed twice by rain for a total of 1 1/2 hours at Chicago.

After the second delay, Kirk McCaskill relieved starter Alex Fernandez to start the seventh. Vaughn, leading off the inning, homered on a 2-2 pitch.

Erik Hanson (8-3) pitched six innings, giving up one run and seven hits. McCaskill (4-3) gave up one run, three hits and struck out two in two innings.

Oakland 6, Detroit 3--Ron Darling won for the first time in nine starts, getting home run help from Ernie Young, Stan Javier and Geronimo Berroa at Oakland in sending the Tigers to their eighth loss in a row.

Darling (3-5) was 0-3 since last winning June 5 against New York.

Dennis Eckersley struck out the side in the ninth inning for his 20th save.

Seattle 4, Milwaukee 2--Felix Fermin scored on pitcher Jamie McAndrew’s throwing error in the 13th inning at Milwaukee, as the Mariners ended the Brewers’ seven-game winning streak.

Fermin led off with a double. Rich Amaral bunted, and McAndrew (0-1) overthrew first base, allowing Fermin to score.