A’S Use Homer Power To Defeat White Sox

American League

Terry Steinbach hit a grand slam and Mark McGwire and Geronimo Berroa had consecutive shots Tuesday night as the homer-crazy Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox 8-4.

Steinbach’s homer was his fifth in three games, while McGwire’s major league-leading 35th was estimated as the longest by an opponent at new Comiskey Park since such records started being kept 4 years ago. It traveled 452 feet.

Berroa followed on the next pitch in the fourth inning with his 25th homer to make it 2-1.

Jason Giambi homered for the A’s in the ninth.

Giambi, the older brother of Jeremy Giambi of the Spokane Indians, hit his 19th homer as the A’s sent Chicago to its fifth loss in six games.

Blue Jays 3, Indians 1 Toronto

Joe Carter hit his 350th homer, leading Pat Hentgen and Toronto past Cleveland.

Shawn Green broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth with a two-run homer off Chad Ogea (5-2).

Carter, who also played for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland and San Diego, hit his 175th homer for Toronto in the second. It was his 23rd homer of the season.

Twins 3, Orioles 2 Baltimore

Paul Molitor doubled home the tying run in the eighth and scored on a wild pitch as Minnesota rallied to beat Baltimore.

Rick Aguilera (3-4) pitched seven innings of five-hit ball for the Twins. He struck out four and walked one after entering the game 0-2 with an 11.48 ERA in his previous three starts.

Yankees 6, Rangers 0 New York

Dwight Gooden, in his strongest outing since throwing a no-hitter May 14, allowed two hits in seven innings to lead New York past Texas.

Gooden (10-5), who allowed 10 runs and eight walks in less than five innings last Thursday against Milwaukee, yielded a third-inning double to Mark McLemore and a sixth-inning double to Kevin Elster.

Gooden walked one and struck out five.

Royals 7, Red Sox 5 Boston

Kevin Appier, the subject of several rumors as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, won his fourth straight start, and Kansas City beat Boston.

The game was delayed 1 hour, 55 minutes at the start because of rain. Two minutes after it began, Royals leadoff hitter Jose Offerman was ejected by plate umpire Al Clark for arguing a called third strike.

Tigers 8, Angels 3 Anaheim, Calif.

Chad Curtis’ solo homer ignited a five-run ninth inning lifting Detroit past California.

Curtis made it 4-3 with a one-out home run off Mike James (5-5), who relieved starter Shawn Boskie to start the seventh. It was Curtis’ 10th homer of the season and first against his former California teammates.

Kreuter hospitalized

Chicago White Sox backup catcher Chad Kreuter, who sustained a severe shoulder injury in a home-plate collision last weekend, has experienced bleeding in his stomach.

Kreuter was to undergo surgery today, but it has been delayed until Monday.

Kreuter, who passed out in the shower earlier this week, has been admitted to the intensive care unit of Centinella Hospital in Los Angeles. Surgery will be performed there by Dr. Robert W. Chandler, an orthopedic surgeon. He will be out the rest of the season.

Twins plan tribute

Kirby Puckett will return to the Metrodome Sept. 7 to thank fans for their support.

Puckett, who was forced to retire July 12 after 13 seasons because of irreversible damage to the retina of his right eye, will address the crowd during a special ceremony before the game against the California Angels.