Royals survive slugfest

BOSTON (AP) -- A 12-run inning. Two players thrown out at home. Four errors. One of baseball's best closers struggling. A pitcher getting his first save as a professional. A grand slam.

Thursday night's game between the Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox had all that and more.

''You can evaluate it, dissect it, do anything you want to this game. It comes down to mistakes,'' Royals manager Tony Muser said. ''When the smoke cleared, we came out two runs on top.''

Kansas City beat Boston 13-11 on Dave McCarty's two-run triple in the eighth inning after overcoming a six-run deficit against the pitching staff with baseball's best ERA.

''It stinks,'' Boston's Carl Everett said. ''We're not supposed to lose games like this.''

In the only other AL games, Minnesota beat Toronto 5-1 and Tampa Bay beat Baltimore 2-1.

Everett hit a grand slam, his 17th homer of the season, as Boston took a 6-1 lead with six runs in the third off starter Chris Fussell. Nomar Garciaparra's two-run shot made it 8-2 in the fifth.

Then came the wacky sixth.

The Royals scored nine runs on nine hits in the top of the inning for an 11-8 lead before the Red Sox came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

They tied it on Garciaparra's two-run double after his foul pop ticked off McCarty's glove as the first baseman teetered on the top step of Boston's dugout.

''True character people come back and try to prove something,'' Muser said.

McCarty did that in the eighth with his triple off Derek Lowe (2-2), who entered the game with 10 saves and a 1.55 ERA.

''If they've got a lead, they've got to keep after us because we never give up,'' McCarty said.

While Lowe and two other Red Sox relievers struggled, Jose Santiago (5-2) and Dan Reichert pitched well out of the Royals' bullpen. Santiago threw 1 1-3 shutout innings before Reichert held Boston scoreless in the eighth and ninth for his first save.

''That's the place to get it, in Fenway Park, especially when the team battles back like that,'' he said. ''You can't really think about what happened in the previous innings. You just have to go out there and throw as many strikes as you can.''

Kansas City outhit Boston 19-12, with McCarty getting four hits and Johnny Damon, Mike Sweeney, Carlos Beltran and Joe Randa getting three each. For the Red Sox, Everett and Garciaparra drove in four runs each, but they wasted a chance to go ahead in the seventh when Jeff Frye was cut down trying to score on Trot Nixon's double.

''My job is to go out there and put up zeros. A team can only come back so many times,'' Lowe said. ''You've got to laugh it off.''

The Royals had season highs in runs and hits and matched their season high for an inning with nine runs in the sixth. The last four runs were unearned, thanks to an error by third baseman Wilton Veras that allowed Jeff Reboulet, who reached on a two-run double, to score the run that tied it 8-8.

Beltran, McCarty and Gregg Zaun then hit RBI singles.

''A lot of things happened out there that don't normally happen,'' Boston manager Jimy Williams said.

Muser agreed.

''That,'' he said, ''was one of the wackiest games I've ever witnessed.''

Twins 5, Blue Jays 1

Eric Milton allowed five hits in eight innings, and Ron Coomer homered as Minnesota won at SkyDome.

Milton (5-1) has won three straight starts and has allowed just two earned runs since getting shelled for nine in 2 1-3 innings of a 14-0 loss to Seattle on May 15.

Carlos Delgado hit his 19th homer for Toronto.

Devil Rays 2, Orioles 1

Bryan Rekar came within two outs of his first career shutout as Tampa Bay beat visiting Baltimore.

The victory gave Tampa Bay its first two-game winning streak since May 11-12.

Rekar (2-3) took a five-hitter into the ninth inning before allowing a one-out solo homer to Brady Anderson. Roberto Hernandez got two outs for his sixth save in 10 chances.

Baltimore starter Scott Erickson (2-2) allowed eight hits in his first complete game of the season.