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Thomas Is a Hit in Return

From the Associated Press

Frank Thomas felt right at home. He should have. After 16 years in Chicago, he was back among familiar faces in a stadium where he was a great hitter for a long time.

Thomas hit two solo home runs for Oakland in his return to U.S. Cellular Field, but it wasn’t enough for a victory Monday night. His old team, the Chicago White Sox, got a game-winning bunt single from Pablo Ozuna in the 10th inning for a 5-4 win over the Athletics.

“Bittersweet,” Thomas said after a game that featured a video tribute of his White Sox career, a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 39,354 and a three-for-five performance.

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“I’ve been looking for this for a long time to come back here and show everybody I’m not dead,” he added. “It’s been a rough six months for me.”

In his final at-bat, Thomas fouled out to the catcher with runners at second and third in the 10th. Bobby Jenks then fanned Bobby Crosby to get out of the inning.

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Boston 9, New York 5 -- Curt Schilling pitched eight strong innings for his 199th victory, and Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz each drove in three runs at Boston.

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Since winning his first four starts -- with an ERA of 1.61 -- Schilling (7-2) won only two of his next five, including a May 10 loss at Yankee Stadium in which he gave up three homers. But he rebounded at Fenway and dropped the Yankees to 1-4 against Boston this season.

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Toronto 6, Tampa Bay 4 -- Troy Glaus and Eric Hinske homered at Toronto, and the Blue Jays ended a three-game losing streak.

Glaus hit his 13th home run of the season to help the Blue Jays rebound from a weekend sweep by Colorado.

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B.J. Ryan pitched 1 1/3 innings for his 10th save in 10 chances.

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Detroit 8, Kansas City 0 -- Rookie Justin Verlander pitched a five-hitter at Kansas City, Mo., for Detroit’s second straight shutout and the Royals’ 10th straight loss.

It was the Tigers’ ninth shutout in 44 games. The quickest any previous Detroit team reached nine shutouts was 52 games in 1945.

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Seattle 8, Baltimore 6 -- Richie Sexson hit a grand slam, Jamie Moyer won for the first time in four starts and the Mariners extended their winning streak to a season-high four games at Seattle.

Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect ninth for his first save since April 30.

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