Texas’ Gonzalez Has Seven RBIs in a 13-2 Victory

Juan Gonzalez couldn’t keep pace with Hack Wilson. But he’s driving in runs again at the right time for the Texas Rangers.

Gonzalez had seven RBIs with a homer, triple and two doubles Monday night at Detroit as Texas moved closer to the top of the American League West with a 13-2 victory over the slumping Detroit Tigers.

Gonzalez upped his major league-leading run batted in total to 143. He hit two-run doubles in each of the first two innings as the Rangers opened a 6-0 lead. He added his 39th homer, a two-run blast into the left-field upper deck to make it 8-0 in the fourth and tripled home another run in the sixth.

“He can do that,” Texas Manager Johnny Oates said. “He can drive in a lot of runs in a hurry.”

Gonzalez missed becoming only the second Ranger to hit for the cycle when Bobby Higginson ran down his low liner to right in the eighth.

“I was trying,” Gonzalez said. “It’s part of the game, but he caught the ball. He’s a competitor and he did what he was supposed to do.”

Said Oates: “I was pulling for it to fall in. He gave it a shot. We told him in the dugout not to make a farce of it, but if there’s any chance, stop at first [on a hit]. . . . I’ve never seen a cycle.”

The Tiger Stadium crowd booed Higginson for his catch and booed again when pinch-hitter Mike Simms grounded out with Gonzalez on deck to end the ninth.

“Great players have great nights,” Tiger Manager Buddy Bell said. “Gonzalez has such great leverage, you know he’s going to hit the ball hard. We just never even got into a situation where we could pitch around him. I’m surprised he didn’t get another chance at the single.”

Gonzalez, who drove in a career-high 144 runs in 1996, is close to becoming the first AL player to reach 150 RBIs since Ted Williams and Vern Stephens had 159 apiece in 1949 for Boston.

Esteban Loaiza (3-3) gave up two runs and six hits in eight innings. Loaiza had given up five earned runs in each of his last three starts. Tony Clark and Luis Gonzalez hit consecutive homers in the eighth inning for Detroit.

Cleveland 15, Oakland 6--Richie Sexson hit a two-run single in the Indians’ biggest first inning in 44 years and drove in four runs at Cleveland, including his fourth homer in three days.

Manny Ramirez hit his career-high 34th homer and drove in five runs, giving him 118 RBIs. Sexson, who hit a 409-foot homer to dead center in the second, had four RBIs for the third time since being recalled from the minors on Aug. 8 to replace injured first baseman Jim Thome.

Oakland’s Rickey Henderson had his AL-leading 57th steal, hit his 11th homer and scored his 2,000th career run after he walked and came home on Jason Giambi’s sacrifice fly in the fifth. He is the sixth player to reach the milestone, joining Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Pete Rose and Willie Mays--all Hall of Famers except Rose.

Boston 5, Seattle 1--Nomar Garciaparra moved closer to joining an exclusive home run list with his 29th homer at Boston.

With the homer, Garciaparra is one away from becoming only the fifth player in major league history to hit 30 or more homers in his first two seasons.

The other four are Rudy York in 1937-38, Ron Kittle in 1983-84, Jose Canseco 1986-87 and Mark McGwire in 1987-88.

Ken Griffey Jr., who hit two homers in a victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday, went two for four and did not add to his AL-leading 47 home run total.

Chicago 4, Baltimore 1--Albert Belle hit his 41st homer and James Baldwin pitched seven strong innings as the White Sox won at Baltimore, extending the Orioles’ losing streak to eight games.

Greg Norton also homered for the White Sox, who have won six of eight. Chicago is 7-2 against Baltimore this season, outscoring the Orioles, 64-39.

Belle’s homer, a two-run shot off Scott Erickson in the first inning, tied him with Frank Thomas for the club record in one season. Belle has 121 RBIs, second in the AL behind Texas’ Gonzalez.

Baldwin (9-5) left in the eighth. He gave up six hits, one walk and an unearned run.

Scott Erickson (14-11) gave up four runs and eight hits over seven-plus innings in falling to 3-11 lifetime against the White Sox.

Minnesota 2, Tampa Bay 1--Bob Tewksbury, the subject of trade rumors, pitched seven scoreless innings at Minneapolis.

Tewksbury (7-9) gave up five hits--four singles--and only one Devil Ray runner reached third base. Tewksbury didn’t walk a batter and struck out six.

Mike Trombley, Eddie Guardado and Rick Aguilera finished up, with Aguilera earning his 34th save with a scoreless ninth.

Tony Saunders (4-13) gave up eight hits, all singles, struck out six and didn’t walk a batter in eight innings.

The Twins scored both of their runs in the third. Brent Gates, Paul Molitor and Marty Cordova hit consecutive one-out singles to right field for the first run. Molitor scored on Ron Coomer’s sacrifice fly.

Mike DiFelice accounted for Tampa Bay’s only run with a solo home run leading off the eighth inning against Trombley.