Young Muscles Up on the Twins

Ernie Young, not your average home run hitter, at least in the major leagues, took advantage of a park that suddenly gives them up in bunches and a shaky Minnesota pitching staff Friday night in Oakland.

Young, who had hit three big league homers in parts of three seasons--one this year--hit three and in the Athletics’ 15-5 victory.

Oakland pounded out 18 hits, and Young had four of them, driving home six runs and scoring four.

He connected off Frank Rodriguez (2-4) in the first inning and hit a two-run shot off Greg Hansell during a five-run fifth that included three homers, tying Oakland’s team record.

Young hit his third homer, a two-run job off Latroy Hawkins, in the seventh inning, in which the A’s scored five runs for the second time of the night.

Kansas City 14, Seattle 10--Ken Griffey Jr. homered twice to end his longest streak without a homer in three seasons, but the Royals rallied at Seattle to win their sixth in a row.

Griffey, who had last hit a home run on April 21, hit a two-run drive off Chris Haney in the fourth inning and a solo shot off Mike Magnante in the eighth.

Baltimore 10, Milwaukee 7--Jeffrey Hammonds, Roberto Alomar and Rafael Palmeiro singled in runs in the 12th inning for the Orioles, who blew two-run leads in the ninth and 10th.

Texas 6, Detroit 2--Roger Pavlik (5-0) gave up hits to six of the first 12 batters he faced before settling down in Arlington, Texas, to pitch the Rangers to their seventh victory in nine games.

Detroit lost for the 19th time in 22 games.

Chicago 5, New York 2--Kevin Tapani (3-2) combined with two relievers on a three-hitter for the White Sox, who sent the Yankees to only their third loss in 11 games.

In Chicago, Andy Pettitte (5-2) walked four batters in a row with one out in the first inning, then gave up Lyle Mouton’s RBI grounder for a 2-0 White Sox lead.

That became 3-0 on Tony Phillips’ sacrifice fly in the third inning and Chicago added two unearned runs in the fourth.

Boston 6, Toronto 5--John Valentin tied the game with a homer in the ninth inning and Troy O’Leary homered in the 11th to win it for the Red Sox in Toronto.