White Sox Keep Rolling With 17-12 Win

Frank Thomas’ three-run homer off Ron Villone was part of an early outburst at Cincinnati for the Chicago White Sox in a 17-12 victory over the Reds Tuesday night.

The White Sox, winning for the sixth time in seven games, improved to 34-23 and moved 11 games over .500 for the first time since September 1996 and extended their stay atop the American League Central to a 50th day.

It was the first time in 15 years a team scored 17 runs against the Reds. Atlanta was the last team to do it, winning 17-9 in Cincinnati on May 1, 1985.

The teams combined for 31 hitsand 15 walks, and one of the runs was scored on a wild pitch.

The White Sox, who had leads of 7-0 in the second and 13-1 in the seventh, still had closer Keith Foulke warming up in the ninth after Dante Bichette hit his eighth career grand slam as part of a six-run rally.

“It was a crazy win,” said Thomas, who drove in four runs and scored four. “No one gave in. They’re in first place and they definitely showed the fight.”

The loss dropped the Red a half-game behind St. Louis in the National League Central and assured that the Reds’ longest homestand of the season won’t be a winning one. They’re 5-6 with one game left.

“It was one of those nights,” manager Jack McKeon said. “We couldn’t stop them. If they didn’t get hits off us, we walked them.”

Atlanta 7, Toronto 6--Rafael Furcal drove in the winning run with a one-out double in the ninth inning as the Braves rallied from a three-run deficit at Atlanta in a game lasted 3 hours 44 minutes.

There were 18 walks on an unseasonably cool night--10 by the Blue Jays, including two with the bases-loaded, and eight by the Braves.

Atlanta had lost four of its previous five, including three of four in interleague play.

“We haven’t started out the month very well,” said Atlanta starter Tom Glavine, who had six walks. “We haven’t played interleague very well.

“Psychologically, it was good for us to come back and win.”

Brian Jordan led off the ninth with a single off John Frascatore (1-2) and moved to second on Javy Lopez’s dribbler in front of the plate. Bobby Bonilla was walked intentionally before Furcal lined a slider to the gap in left-center.

Oakland 5, San Diego 4--Matt Stairs hit a grand slam in the first inning, and Gil Heredia pitched into the eighth as the Athletics beat the Padres at Oakland.

Heredia (8-3) gave up four runs--three earned--and five hits in seven-plus innings to win his third consecutive decision. The right-hander struck out six.

Heredia got into trouble in the eighth inning when he walked Damian Jackson and gave up a single to Ruben Rivera. Left-hander Rich Sauveur came in and allowed RBI singles to pinch-hitter Ed Sprague and Tony Gwynn to make it 5-4.

T.J. Mathews came on and got Phil Nevin to ground into a double play and Bret Boone to ground out to end the threat. Jason Isringhausen pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save.

Seattle 4, Colorado 1--Brett Tomko pitched five strong innings and John Olerud drove in two runs as the Mariners beat the Rockies at Seattle.

Tomko (4-2) gave up one run, five hits, struck out four and walked two to improve to 8-0 in interleague play. The Mariners’ fifth starter is 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in three starts at Safeco Field. Tomko’s overall ERA is 5.24.

Todd Helton went one for three for Colorado, lowering his major league-leading average to .408.

Olerud gave the Mariners all the runs they needed with a two-run, first-inning single off Brian Bohanon (2-4), who was making his first start in more than one month.

Cleveland 4, Milwaukee 2--David Justice hit his 250th home run and Chuck Finley pitched a seven-hitter at Milwaukee as the Indians won their fourth in a row.

The Indians helped Finley (5-4) with double plays in each of the first three innings.

Justice, who homered twice Monday, hit a 420-foot drive off John Snyder (0-2) following Roberto Alomar’s two-out double and Jim Thome’s walk in the first inning. Justice has 15 homers this season, including 12 in his last 26 games. He has 33 RBIs in that span.

New York Yankees 8, Montreal 1--Bernie Williams homered and drove in four runs, and emergency starter Jason Grimsley pitched five strong innings to lead the Yankees at Montreal.

Grimsley allowed three hits and one run in only his third start of the season. He filled in for David Cone, who moved up a day to fill in for injured Ramiro Mendoza Monday. Mike Stanton and Todd Erdos completed the three-hitter.

St. Louis 5, Kansas City 4--After going without a home run since May 8, J.D. Drew had two as the Cardinals rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Royals at St. Louis.

Mark McGwire is sidelined with a hamstring injury and his replacement at first base, Larry Sutton, hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.

“I’m not 6-8 and I don’t have big arms like McGwire to really drive the ball,” said Sutton, called up from the minors earlier in the day. “I know I’ve just got to drive the ball to the outfield somewhere.”

Andy Benes (5-3) allowed four runs in the third, then retired 12 in a row later as the Cardinals won for only the second time in seven games. Benes ended up allowing four runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings and struck out six. Dave Veres got five outs for his 10th save in 13 chances.

Boston 4, Florida 3--Ramon Martinez beat the Marlins for the eighth time in nine decisions and Nomar Garciaparra had three RBIs at Miami.

“I don’t know. It’s like any other team,” Martinez said. “I faced them for the first time in 1993 and I lost. Ever since, I’ve been throwing, pitching against them like everybody else.”

Martinez (5-3) allowed two runs and four hits in five innings. He has a 2.45 ERA against the Marlins.

Garciaparra has three home runs in June after only hitting two in April and May combined.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever worried about power,” Garciaparra said. “I never thought my power was gone in the first place. I just go out there and try to hit the ball.”

Garciaparra, who went two for five, has 13 hits in his last 25 at-bats with three homers and six RBIs, raising his average to .374 and his home-run total to five.

“He’s just a good hitter. If he catches the ball right, it’s going to go out,” Boston Manager Jimy Williams said. “He doesn’t necessarily try to hit home runs. He just tries to hit the ball hard.”

Detroit 2, Pittsburgh 1--Deivi Cruz homered and Juan Gonzalez had an RBI single as Tigers won at Pittsburgh.

Willie Blair and four relievers held the Pirates to one run on 11 hits. They stranded 12 Pirates baserunners.

Minnesota 3, Houston 1--Jose Lima took a two-hitter into the eighth inning, then lost his eighth consecutive decision as the Twins rallied to beat the Astros at Houston.

Lima (1-8) hasn’t won since beating Pittsburgh on April 5 in his first start of the season.

Tampa Bay 5, Philadelphia 3--Mike DiFelice hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the 10th inning at Philadelphia to help give the Devils Rays their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Baltimore at New York Mets, ppd.--This game was rained out after a miserable day of chilly winds and nonstop showers. It will be made up Thursday.