Nilsson: Reality Can Wait

Dave Nilsson has played in only nine games because of a broken foot, but you have to wonder where he would be if he had been healthy since opening day.

Nilsson hit two home runs for the second day in a row, again leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-3 victory at Minnesota on Saturday night.

He has hit in all nine of those games, with five home runs. Since coming off the disabled list on May 9, he is 12 for 24.

And his feet remain firmly planted on the ground.

“It’s been a pretty good week for me,” Nilsson said. “You just go with the flow and hope it lasts a few more days. When it’s over, you go back to reality.”

Nilsson hit a solo home run in a four-run first inning and another in the eighth. On Friday night, he became the first Brewer to homer twice in an inning, connecting during an 11-run sixth.

Manager Phil Garner understands the situation.

“You just enjoy this while it’s happening, especially when it’s happening for you and not against you,” he said. “Do you think I ought to play him tomorrow?”

Seattle 7, Baltimore 3--Alex Rodriguez homered for the fifth time in six games and John Marzano’s two-run double snapped a sixth-inning tie in the Mariners’ victory at Baltimore.

Rodriguez, who hit a grand slam and drove in six runs in Friday night’s 14-13 loss, hit his eighth home run of the season. Jay Buhner later hit a three-run shot for Seattle.

Texas 6, Cleveland 3--Still in shock about his part in the Rangers’ blowing a seven-run lead a day earlier, Jeff Russell struck out Albert Belle in a key spot in the seventh inning to help preserve a victory that ended Cleveland’s 13-game home winning streak and six-game winning streak overall.

Belle had hit his 17th homer, extending his hitting streak to 19 games, but with runners on first and second and two outs in the seventh inning, Russell struck him out to protect a 4-3 lead.

Toronto 6, Kansas City 2--Frank Viola won for the first time in more than two years and Joe Carter had a two-run triple for the Blue Jays at Kansas City.

Viola (1-2), who had come into the game with a 12.15 earned-run average, pitched six innings, giving up one run and five hits. He had last won on April 27, 1994, when he was with Boston.

Carter, in a one-for-19 rut, singled and scored on John Olerud’s double for a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning, then lined a triple in a three-run fifth.

Chicago 16, Detroit 4--Ray Durham hit the second grand slam of his career, one of four Chicago home runs at Detroit.

Frank Thomas, Darren Lewis and Harold Baines also homered for the White Sox, who had 21 hits and scored in double digits for the second consecutive day against Detroit’s struggling staff, which has a 7.20 ERA and has given up 10 or more runs in 13 games.

Oakland 6, Boston 5--Terry Steinbach hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth inning, and Mark McGwire and Phil Plantier drove in runs in the 10th for the Athletics, who won in Boston.

It was the sixth extra-inning outing in the last seven games for the Red Sox, who are 3-3 in those games.