AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Johnson Turns On Power, Then Turns Off Thomas

Randy Johnson had given up a home run to Frank Thomas in the first inning Tuesday night in Chicago, and here it was the seventh, with Thomas at bat and the White Sox down by two runs.

Power against power, but Johnson had thrown a lot of pitches.

“I had [Jeff] Nelson ready [to relieve], but Randy wanted to finish the inning,” Mariner Manager Lou Piniella said. “It’s a great confrontation for the fans. Why cheat them?”

Instead, disappoint them.

Johnson made Thomas his 10th strikeout victim as Seattle beat the White Sox, 9-5.

Johnson (7-1) is 10-2 lifetime against the White Sox and 6-0 in six starts in Chicago, where he has given up only 14 earned runs in 14 innings.

“That’s a tough lineup to throw to,” Johnson said. “Later in the game I got tired and started messing around with some pitches and I couldn’t put away the hitters like I wanted to.”

He threw 126 pitches in seven innings in the 56th game in which he has struck out 10 or more.

After Johnson fanned Thomas to get out of the seventh, Seattle added four runs in the eighth inning, two off Wilson Alvarez (1-4), who failed for the eighth time in a row to win his second game.

Cleveland 9, Boston 2--Rookie Chad Ogea (3-0) gave up one run in eight innings and Kenny Lofton drove in four runs as the Indians won in Cleveland.

Carlos Baerga had three hits and drove in two runs, and Eddie Murray singled home a run with his 2,990th hit.

The Red Sox activated Jose Canseco before the game after he missed more than a month because of abdominal and groin injuries. Canseco went 0 for 4.

“I had some real good swings,” said Canseco, who flied out twice, struck out and grounded out. “I hit a couple of line drives foul and felt aggressive. My timing’s a little off, but I felt good.”

Baltimore 8, New York 7--Jeffrey Hammonds had a career-high four runs batted in as the Orioles rallied from a five-run deficit to win at Baltimore.

Jeff Manto and Chris Hoiles homered for the Orioles, who have won two in a row after a seven-game losing streak. The Orioles trailed, 7-2, in the fifth inning before mounting their comeback.

Hammonds had a sacrifice fly in the third inning, an RBI double in the fifth and put Baltimore ahead with a two-run double in the sixth.

Milwaukee 5, Toronto 3--Rookie Sid Roberson scattered three runs and seven hits in seven innings and Darryl Hamilton drove in the go-ahead run with a fifth-inning double for the Brewers at Toronto.

It was the longest major league outing for Roberson (3-2). Mike Fetters pitched the ninth inning for his sixth save.

The Brewers have won five of six road games.

Texas 8, Detroit 6--Rusty Greer and Juan Gonzalez homered on consecutive pitches in the fifth inning at Detroit as the Rangers ended a slugging slump.

Ivan Rodriguez also homered for the Rangers, who ended droughts of 31 innings without an extra-base hit and 62 without a home run.

Bobby Higginson homered for the second consecutive night and Travis Fryman connected for the first time since May 24 for the Tigers.

Oakland 5, Minnesota 2--Rickey Henderson wasn’t in the lineup, so Scott Brosius did his Henderson imitation, homering to lead off the Athletics’ first inning, then adding another homer and an RBI single in support of Steve Ontiveros (7-2) in a victory at Oakland.

Terry Steinbach and Brent Gates added solo homers for the A’s.