Thomas’ Sf Leads Torrid Sox To Win

American League

Frank Thomas hit a sacrifice fly to break a 12th-inning tie Wednesday night and lead the Chicago White Sox to their sixth consecutive victory, 8-6 over the Boston Red Sox at Boston.

Ozzie Guillen singled to lead off the 12th, moved to second when Tony Phillips walked and took third on a wild pitch by Heathcliff Slocumb (1-4). Thomas scored Guillen easily on a shallow fly, thanks to a weak throw by right fielder Jose Malave.

Norberto Martin singled home Phillips to ensure Chicago’s 15th victory in 17 games. Brian Keyser (1-0) pitched two innings for the win.

Boston took a 4-1 lead on home runs by Reggie Jefferson, Jose Canseco and Tim Naehring.

Chicago rallied and moved ahead 5-4 in the seventh, but Naehring hit his second homer of the game in the eighth to send it into extra innings.

In the 10th, Chicago took a 6-5 lead on Harold Baines’ RBI single before Naehring doubled and scored on Mike Stanley’s pinch hit to tie it again.

Twins 14, Angels 3

Minneapolis

Chuck Knoblauch hit his first career grand slam in a nine-run fourth and Minnesota ran its winning streak to a season-high five games by beating California.

Orioles 6, Tigers 4

Baltimore

Cal Ripken singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth and Baltimore handed Detroit its 18th loss in 19 games.

Blue Jays 12, Yankees 7

New York

Alex Gonzalez hit a two-run homer and Ed Sprague added a three-run shot as Toronto stopped its 13-game losing streak against New York.

Royals 5, Athletics 2

Oakland, Calif.

Chris Haney (4-5) pitched seven strong innings, shutting down Oakland for the second time this spring as Kansas City avoided a series sweep.

Brewers 6, Rangers 4

Milwaukee

Ben McDonald (5-3) pitched six solid innings for his first win in more than a month and Dave Nilsson drove in two runs as Milwaukee beat Texas.

Viola’s comeback stalled

Frank Viola, recently demoted to the bullpen, was released by Toronto.

Viola, 36, was 1-3 in six starts.

“A 7.71 ERA, that’s the bottom line,” the former A.L. Cy Young winner said. “As I’ve said in the past, this organization gave me an opportunity a lot of teams wouldn’t have and I failed to take advantage of it.”

Viola is still trying to come back from elbow surgery two years ago.

Clearing the bases

Milwaukee shortstop Jose Valentin committed his 16th error. He had 15 in 112 games last year. … Minnesota’s Scott Aldred threw first-pitch strikes to the first 13 California batters he faced. … Baltimore’s Roberto Alomar extended his hitting streak to 19 games and raised his average to .405. During the 1990s, Lenny Dykstra, Andres Galarraga, John Olerud and Paul O’Neill are the other players to have a .400 batting average in June.

Chicago pitcher Kevin Tapani is 8-0 lifetime against Boston. … Gerald Williams of New York had an error to end his 125-game errorless streak in the outfield. … Mark McGwire walked in the fourth, setting an Oakland single-season record by reaching base safely in his 36th straight game, one more than Sal Bando’s mark set in 1973.