Knoblauch Ignites Twins Once Again

American League

Chuck Knoblauch homered to lead off the game for the second straight day Monday night, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers in Arlington.

Knoblauch, who hit his 12th homer in the first inning against Ken Hill (14-8) is batting .595 (22 for 38) against Texas this season.

Texas’ Ivan Rodriguez doubled in the eighth inning to set the single-season major-league record for doubles by a catcher. His 43rd double broke the record he shared with Mickey Cochrane (1930), Terry Kennedy (1982) and Brian Harper (1990).

The Rangers got six doubles but stranded 14 runners, leaving the bases loaded in the sixth inning when reliever Mike Trombley struck out Will Clark and Dean Palmer.

Orioles 12, Angels 8

Anaheim, Calif.

Todd Zeile hit his first two home runs for Baltimore, and the Orioles homered five times in a win over California.

The win moved the Orioles into a tie with the Chicago White Sox for the A.L. wild-card spot, and kept Baltimore four games back of first-place New York in the AL East.

Brady Anderson and Bobby Bonilla each hit solo homers and Chris Hoiles had a two-run shot for Baltimore.

Brewers 7, Indians 6

Milwaukee

Jose Valentin singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning, leading Milwaukee over Cleveland.

Cleveland led 5-1 in the third and was ahead 6-5 when Jeff Cirillo singled with one out in the ninth. Cirillo was erased at second on a fielder’s choice.

Pinch-runner David Hulse stole second, took third on John Jaha’s infield single and scored on a wild pitch by Jose Mesa, who blew a save for the fifth time in 36 chances.

Jaha went to second on the wild pitch and scored on Valentin’s looping liner.

Royals 2, Blue Jays 0

Toronto

Tim Belcher pitched a four-hitter, leading Kansas City to its third straight victory, a shutout over Toronto in the quickest game in the majors this year.

Belcher (13-8) gave up four two-out singles, including consecutive ninth-inning hits before he got John Olerud to fly out to center field, ending the game in 1 hour, 53 minutes. Belcher threw just 90 pitches, 73 of them strikes.

It was his first shutout this season and 17th of his career.

Tigers 8, White Sox 6

Chicago

Travis Fryman hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning, and Detroit rallied to beat Chicago and stop its fouri-game winning streak.

Roberto Hernandez (6-2) blew a save for the seventh time in 41 chances.

Clearing the bases

The New York Yankees designated right-handed pitcher Wally Whitehurst for assignment to make room on their 40-man roster for pitcher David Cone, who came off the 60-day disabled list. … The Twins tied a club record with their 294th double. … Texas has dropped six of its last nine.

Kansas City pitcher Tim Belcher is 5-1 in six career starts against the Blue Jays, including a 4-0 mark at SkyDome.

Chicago catcher Ron Karkovice underwent an MRI on his right knee. He hasn’t started in four days. … In the third inning, Texas’ Ivan Rodriguez became the ninth player in major league history to score 100 runs while playing primarily as a catcher. The last to do it was K.C.’s Darrell Porter in 1979.