Tigers settle on manager, fire 2 coaches

DETROIT -- The Detroit Tigers appointed Luis Pujols manager for the rest of the season and fired two coaches Tuesday, one day after firing manager Phil Garner and general manager Randy Smith.

Detroit also offered former Montreal manager Felipe Alou a three-year deal to spend at least one year as Pujols' bench coach, with an option to be a special assistant for two years.

New club president Dave Dombrowski, who assumed general manager duties on Monday, has orchestrated the two-day shake-up in the hopes of reviving a franchise that hasn't had a winning season since 1993 and opened the season with six straight losses.

Alou, who was fired last season, worked with both Pujols and Dombrowski in Montreal. Dombrowski was an Expos executive from 1986-91, one year before Alou was promoted from coach to manager.

Indians 5, Twins 4

CLEVELAND -- Chuck Finley, who had to skip his first start last week after a domestic dispute with his wife, pitched six shutout innings as the Cleveland Indians won their sixth straight game, 5-4 over the Twins.

Milton Bradley hit a two-run homer, Ricky Gutierrez had two RBIs and Matt Lawton hit a solo shot off Joe Mays (0-2) as the Indians, who were expected to struggle during a transition season, improved to 7-1 in front of the smallest crowd ever at Jacobs Field.

Finley (1-0) missed his start on April 3 in Anaheim after his wife, actress Tawny Kitaen, was arrested for allegedly assaulting him while the couple was driving home. Kitaen was charged with spousal abuse and battery.

Bob Wickman worked a shaky ninth for his fourth save.

White Sox 8, Tigers 2

DETROIT -- Frank Thomas hit his 350th career homer to spoil Luis Pujols' debut as Detroit manager, and Chicago beat the winless Tigers.

Detroit (0-7), baseball's lone winless team, fired manager Phil Garner and general manager Randy Smith on Monday and named Pujols the manager for the rest of the season before Tuesday's game.

The Tigers are off to their worst start since losing the first eight games in 1952. They haven't had a winning season since 1993.

There were just 11,833 tickets sold for the game -- and even fewer fans showed up -- making it the smallest crowd in the two-plus seasons of Comerica Park.

Carlos Lee and Royce Clayton drove in two runs each, and Magglio Ordonez hit three doubles and scored twice for Chicago, which had lost four of five since winning the season opener.

Dan Wright (1-0) gave up two runs and five hits in 7 1-3 innings for the win.

Steve Sparks (0-1) was the loser.

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 2

TORONTO -- Mike Mussina allowed two hits in eight innings, and Rondell White hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth as New York won its seventh straight.

Raul Mondesi and Felipe Lopez hit solo homers off Mussina (2-0) for Toronto's only hits. Mussina, who pitched seven scoreless innings against Baltimore last week, struck out 10 and walked one.

Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Since their 10-3 opening-day loss at Baltimore, New York has allowed just eight runs and won all seven games for their best start since going 9-1 in 1999.

Dan Plesac (0-1) took the loss. Toronto has dropped five straight.

Red Sox 8, Royals 4

BOSTON -- Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez homered for Boston off Dan Reichert (0-2) to back an encouraging outing from Tim Wakefield.

The Red Sox also got home runs from Jason Varitek and Brian Daubach, who had three of Boston's 15 hits.

Wakefield (1-0), pressed into a starting role because of injuries to John Burkett and Dustin Hermanson, struck out four and walked none to earn his first victory as a starter since Aug. 4. The knuckleballer allowed three of his five hits in the fifth inning before Chuck Knoblauch's grand slam cut the Boston lead to 5-4.

Athletics 5, Rangers 4

ARLINGTON, Texas -- John Rocker blew his first save chance for Texas, and Oakland beat the Rangers on Greg Myers' RBI single in the 11th inning.

Eric Chavez homered twice for Oakland, including a solo shot in the 10th off Rudy Seanez (0-1). Texas rallied for one run off Billy Koch (2-0) in the bottom half, but the Rangers couldn't score the winning run despite having the bases loaded and nobody out.