A’s Take Walk on Wild Side

On a day that began with Creighton Gubanich making his first major league hit a grand slam, rookie pitcher Tim Harikkala was one of many who faltered as the the Boston Red Sox blew two big leads and lost 12-11 in 10 innings Monday to the Athletics at Oakland.

John Jaha’s bases-loaded walk off Harikkala, who had lost Sunday to the A’s, ended a game that had 24 hits, 16 walks, five homers, three wild pitches and five unearned runs.

Matt Stairs’ solo homer tied the game in the ninth for the A’s, who trailed 7-0 after two innings and were behind 11-6 in the eighth.

T. J. Mathews (4-0) pitched a perfect 10th for the win.

“I’ve begun to think we’re not out of it until the last out comes around, especially when we’re down seven runs and come back,” said Tony Phillips, who hit a three-run homer for the A’s.

Gubanich became the first player to to hit a grand slam for his first hit since Orlando Mercado did it for Seattle against Texas on Sept. 19, 1982.

Tampa Bay 14, Detroit 6--Wade Boggs tied Frank Robinson for 25th place on the career hits list at 2,943 with a run-scoring single at St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Tigers finished 5-6 in an 11-game trip.

Toronto 16, Seattle 10--Carlos Delgado homered twice, drove in five runs and set a team record with five runs scored to give David Wells (4-1) his first victory in more than two weeks at Seattle.

Delgado went three for three with solo homers in the second and ninth innings for his 12th multi-homer game. He also walked and was hit by a pitch.

Seattle’s Russ Davis homered twice as the teams hit nine homers.

Cleveland 10, Texas 4--Kenny Lofton had four hits for the second time this season and four RBIs, including a sacrifice fly that put the Indians ahead for good at Arlington, Texas.

Lofton went four for five with a two-run homer and two runs scored. He raised his average to .369. Every Indian starter had at least one hit except Jim Thome, who walked four times, and each scored.

Kansas City 9, New York 3--A year ago, the Royals became an ignominious footnote in the storied history of the Yankees: the only American League team the Yankees have swept in a season series in a non-strike season.

But Mike Sweeney and Carlos Febles hit home runs and five relievers backed up starter Jose Rosado as the Royals won at Kansas City to split their four-game series.