White Sox Prevail In Power Struggle

American League

Before Sunday’s game at Tiger Stadium, a feature about the old “Home Run Derby” show was played on the ballpark’s closed circuit TV system. Then the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox went out and played their own version.

The teams combined for a major league-record 12 home runs and American League record 21 extra-base hits as the White Sox rallied to beat the Tigers 14-12.

“Everything was flying,” said Chicago’s Frank Thomas, who tied the game 10-10 with his homer in the sixth. “It was weird.”

Cecil Fielder, Chad Curtis and Kirk Gibson each homered twice for the Tigers, while Ron Karkovice hit two for the White Sox. The four players with at least two homers set an A.L. record and tied the major league mark set in 1947 by Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

The 10 solo homers were another major-league record. Boston and Toronto held the previous mark with seven on July 4, 1977.

The White Sox trailed 7-1 before rallying to win.

Royals 7, Brewers 4

Milwaukee

County Stadium is fast becoming a pitchers’ park - but only for those who don’t wear a Milwaukee uniform.

Wally Joyner hit a pair of RBI doubles as Kansas City handed the punchless Brewers their seventh straight loss at home.

Angels 8, Red Sox 3

Anaheim, Calif.

Chili Davis, J.T. Snow and Greg Myers each drove in two runs as California defeated Boston.

Chuck Finley (2-4) threw 122 pitches in 5 2/3 innings, but picked up his second straight victory after opening the season with four consecutive losses. He allowed six hits and three runs.

Yankees 4, Athletics 1

Oakland, Calif.

Bernie Williams homered and Jim Leyritz had three singles as New York broke out of a slump with 10 hits against Oakland.

Mariano Rivera (1-1), making his second major-league start, allowed one run on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings for New York. He got only three outs on ground balls and allowed at least one baserunner in every inning.

Rangers 4, Twins 2 Minneapolis

Last season, a shoulder injury put Roger Pavlik on the disabled list three times and limited him to 11 starts. This year, he’s pitching pain-free.

Pavlik retired the first 10 batters and pitched seven strong innings as Texas beat Minnesota for its fourth straight victory.

Indians 5, Blue Jays 4

Toronto

Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Tony Pena homered as Cleveland beat Toronto.

Cleveland starter Charles Nagy (3-1) went six innings, giving up one run on six hits. Jose Mesa, the fifth Indians pitcher, picked up his eighth save despite giving up an RBI single to Joe Carter in the ninth inning.

Boggs mired in slump

Wade Boggs’ batting average continues to plummet for New York. He went 0-for-4 to extend his slump to 3-for-33 over the past 11 games. During that span, his average has dropped from .380 to .265.

Clemens closer to return

Roger Clemens turned in a one-hit, no-run, five-strikeout performance against the Syracuse Chiefs in a five inning rehabilitation start for the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Clearing the bases

Mark McGwire, who began the day second in the league in home runs and RBIs, left Oakland’s game against New York with back spasms… . Kansas City called up infielder Jose Mota from Class AAA Omaha, making him the third former replacement player to be added to a big-league roster. Mota is the son of former major leaguer Manny Mota… . Texas left fielder Juan Gonzalez, who hasn’t played this season because of a bad back, is in the extended spring program in Port Charlotte, Fla., and could be back in Texas by Thursday.