Thome’s Career Day Knocks Off Tigers

American League

Jim Thome hit two homers, including his first career grand slam, and drove in a career-high six runs as Cleveland beat visiting Detroit for the 14th straight time at Jacobs Field.

Thome, who also homered on Saturday, went 4 for 5 and 7 for 11 in the series. The home runs were his 26th and 27th of the season.

The Indians improved to 9-0 against Detroit this season. The Tigers dropped to 1-18 at Jacobs Field since it opened in 1994.

Athletics 9, Orioles 6 Oakland, Calif.

Mark McGwire hit his major league-leading 43rd home run and Scott Brosius and Terry Steinbach also went deep for Oakland, which raised its season homer total to 205 in a win over Baltimore.

Brosius and McGwire hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning as the A’s jumped to an 8-0 lead against David Wells (9-11).

Steinbach, who hit a two-run homer on Saturday, hit his 30th of the season in the first inning.

Brewers 8, White Sox 7 Milwaukee

Jeff Cirillo’s broken-bat single over a drawn-in infield scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Milwaukee edged Chicago.

Angel Miranda (7-5) got one out for the win, and Mike Fetters pitched the ninth for his 22nd save. Jeff Darwin (0-1) took the loss.

Blue Jays 6, Twins 2 Minneapolis

Pat Hentgen pitched his major league-leading seventh complete game to lead Toronto to a victory over Minnesota.

Ed Sprague hit his 30th homer and Carlos Delgado also hit a two-run homer for the Blue Jays.

Hentgen (15-7) won for the ninth time in 10 starts. He gave up six hits, tied his season high with seven strikeouts and walked none.

Hentgen, who retired 12 of 13 batters in the middle innings, has lost just once since July 1. He improved to 6-1 lifetime against Minnesota.

Rick Aguilera (6-5) was the loser.

Rangers 10, Royals 3 Arlington, Texas

Will Clark drove in four runs with a single, double and homer and Dean Palmer and Kevin Elster each hit two-run homers in Texas’ victory over Kansas City.

Kansas City starter Kevin Appier (11-8) allowed six earned runs in 2-2/3 innings in his second-shortest outing of the season.

Angels 4, Red Sox 3 Boston

Pinch-hitter Jack Howell led off the ninth inning with a double that left fielder Mike Greenwell misplayed, and Randy Velarde followed with an RBI double to give California its victory over Boston.

California has won four of its last six games, while the Red Sox lost for only the fifth time in their last 18 games.

Mo Vaughn’s 35th home run, a solo shot in the seventh inning, tied the game 3-3. It was Vaughn’s 19th home run at Fenway Park this season. Tony Armas holds the Red Sox record with 21 home runs in one season at Fenway.

Clearing the bases

By reaching 100 RBIs in each of his first six seasons, Chicago’s Frank Thomas joined Al Simmons (11, 1924-34), Joe DiMaggio (7, 1936-42) and Hal Trosky (6, 1934-39) as the only players ever to accomplish the feat. … Kevin Elster became only the second shortstop in Texas history to reach the 20-homer plateau. Toby Harrah was the other. … McGwire now has 145 career home runs in the Oakland Coliseum, beating the record of 144 held by Reggie Jackson.