Twins Cap Puckett Day With Victory

American League

Rich Becker’s RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning gave the Minnesota Twins a 7-6 victory over the visiting Oakland Athletics on Sunday night after Kirby Puckett’s No. 34 was retired in a 90-minute pre-game ceremony.

Becker, who hit an RBI triple in the eighth, lined a 1-2 pitch from Billy Taylor (1-3) to virtually the same spot in right-center field as the Twins won for the fourth time in six games.

Rick Aguilera (2-1) got the win even though he failed to protect a 6-4 lead in the ninth.

Indians 7, Orioles 6 Cleveland

Eric Davis and Rafael Palmeiro struck out with the bases loaded to end the game, blunting Baltimore’s ninth inning rally.

David Justice homered, hit an RBI single and scored three runs as the Indians took a 7-4 lead into the ninth.

But Baltimore came back against Mike Jackson as B.J. Surhoff led off with a bunt single, Tony Tarasco walked and pinch-hitter Pete Incaviglia singled to load the bases. Brady Anderson hit a two-run double that made it 7-6, and Roberto Alomar was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Brewers 11, White Sox 7 Chicago

John Jaha hit a two-run homer and Jeff Cirillo had four hits and four RBIs.

Albert Belle extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a three-run homer in the first inning for the White Sox, who made five errors.

Jaha homered in the sixth, his 11th of the season. Cirillo hit a two-run double in the second and a two-run single in the fourth.

Joel Adamson won his first major league game.

Blue Jays 4, Angels 3 (11) Toronto

Benito Santiago drew a bases-loaded walk with no outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, and Toronto took advantage of a misplayed fly ball to defeat Anaheim.

The Angels, who had won four in a row, tied the game at 3 with two outs in the ninth on reliever Mike Timlin’s balk. But the Blue Jays came back for their third win this season on a bases-loaded walk in their final at-bat.

Tigers 13, Rangers 5 Detroit

Detroit handed Bobby Witt his first loss of the year after seven wins and Bobby Higginson hit a grand slam home run.

Witt was bidding to become the fourth pitcher in the majors to start the season at 8-0, joining Roger Clemens, Jimmy Key and Pedro Martinez. Instead, Witt lasted just 4 innings and gave up six runs on eight hits. Five of the hits were for extra bases, including two doubles by Melvin Nieves.

Red Sox-Yankees, ppd. New York

The game between Boston and New York was rained out. No makeup date was announced.

Clearing the bases

David Justice has reached base by hit or walk in 41 of 42 starts. … Albert Belle took part in the half-hour team autograph session prior to Sunday’s game. In Shreveport, La., Belle’s mother Carrie Belle presented three high school students with $3,000 college scholarships as part of a program organized by Belle. … Anaheim’s Jim Edmonds extended his hitting streak to 13 games.