AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : For Rangers, to Err Is Human, Costly

It wasn’t Ivan Rodriguez’s night and that made Kansas City’s day.

The Texas catcher made two ninth-inning errors, the second allowing Vince Coleman to score the winning run Tuesday as the Royals won their sixth in a row in beating the Rangers, 7-6, at Kansas City, Mo.

Tom Goodwin singled off Ed Vosberg (1-1) leading off the ninth and took third when Coleman bunted and Rodriguez threw wildly to first.

Goodwin slipped on the wet turf rounding third and didn’t try to score.

Matt Whiteside then intentionally walked Jon Nunnally, Greg Gagne struck out and Gary Gaetti hit a slow roller to the mound. Whiteside threw home, forcing Goodwin. Rodriguez then threw to first, trying for a double play, but the ball sailed high and wide of the bag, letting Coleman score.

“We’ll just get up in the morning and go at ‘em again,” Texas Manager Johnny Oates said. “This game is still played by human beings. It’s not always going to be 100% perfect.”

Hipolito Pichardo (1-1) pitched 1 2/3 innings for the victory.

Boston 1, Oakland 0--Tim Wakefield (2-0) gave up two hits in 7 1/3 innings, baffling the Athletics with his knuckleball as the Red Sox won at Oakland.

Boston scored in the fifth on Reggie Jefferson’s leadoff single, Mike Greenwell’s double and a sacrifice fly by Tim Naehring.

Seattle 7, New York 3--Rich Amaral, whose 12th-inning homer helped beat New York a day earlier, hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the eighth inning as the Mariners dropped the Yankees to 1-7 on their current trip.

Jeff Nelson (2-0) pitched one shutout inning for the victory. Melido Perez (2-2) took theloss.

Detroit 8, Toronto 6--Lou Whitaker hit a two-run double in a three-run eighth inning as the Tigers rallied to send the Blue Jays to their seventh loss in 11 games.

Felipe Lira (1-3) pitched two innings for his first major league victory, and Mike Henneman got four outs for his fifth save. Danny Cox (0-2) was the loser.

Cleveland 2, Chicago 1--Alex Fernandez (2-4) threw wildly to first on Albert Belle’s infield single in the eighth, letting the tie-breaking run score from second at Cleveland.

Paul Assenmacher (2-0), Cleveland’s fourth pitcher, retired Ozzie Guillen on a double-play grounder to strand the go-ahead run at third in the eighth. Jose Mesa finished for his 10th save in 10 opportunities.

Milwaukee 5, Minnesota 3--Sid Roberson (1-1) gave up one run and six hits in 5 2/3 innings for his first major league victory, and Joe Oliver had three hits and three RBIs as the Brewers stopped an eight-game home losing streak.