Chicago ? The Big Hurt returned : and promptly got hurt again.

In his first appearance in the major leagues since breaking a bone in his left ankle July 6, Frank Thomas strained a hip flexor and left in the seventh inning Monday as the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-4.

Thomas, who went 0-for-2 with a walk, said his latest injury wasn’t serious.

“I just felt a little twinge in the hip flexor,” he said. “It was just one of those things you don’t want to get out of hand by hitting a line drive and having to leg it out. It’s a day-by-day situation, and I’m feeling good. I didn’t want to go out on the first day and be down for two weeks.”

Thomas, batting third as the designated hitter, had hit just .190 in 11 games during a minor-league rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Charlotte. He received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 38,685 in the first inning, his first plate appearance since surgery last Oct. 6.

“That brought a tear to my eye,” Thomas said. “The fans showed me how much they care and that was big for me.”

Thomas popped out in the first, walked and scored in the third and lined out to left in the fifth.

Timo Perez, just 5-foot-9, replaced the 6-5 Thomas in the seventh and hit a two-run single in the ninth that won the game for Chicago.

Perez helped the White Sox snap a three-game losing streak with his hit down the left-field line off Scot Shields (4-2), who blew a save for the second time in nine chances this season.

“It was a good swing, and I put it in left field,” Perez said. “It was a great comeback, a good game.”

Chicago starting pitcher Mark Buehrle waves to fans after being taken out of the game by manager Ozzie Guillen in the ninth inning. The White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-4, Monday at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.

Damaso Marte struck out Steve Finley, and Cliff Politte (1-0) got Orlando Cabrera to fly out in the top of the ninth.

“I was really disappointed about today’s game, because Mark Buehrle deserved better,” Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He pitched the way he’s always pitched, and we had a great opportunity to score a lot of runs.”

Buehrle, 6-0 in nine starts since losing April 10 at Minnesota, allowed four runs and nine hits in 8 1â3 innings.

“I was kind of surprised I went back out there in the ninth inning (after) facing these guys nine innings the last game,” he said, referring to his one-run, four-hit performance in a no-decision last week.

Chicago exercised Guillen’s 2006 option and added two additional guaranteed years and an option for 2009.

Orioles 8, Red Sox 1

Boston – Rodrigo Lopez won his second straight start following a long winless stretch, and the Orioles broke a season-high, three-game losing streak.

David Newhan hit his first career grand slam and drove in five runs, and Baltimore built a 7-0 lead after three innings against Bronson Arroyo (4-2), who got just eight outs.

Lopez (4-2) allowed just one run and six hits in eight innings. He was 0-2 in seven starts after beating the New York Yankees on April 10, then defeated Seattle, 3-1, Wednesday.

Athletics 5, D’Rays 4 (11)

Oakland, Calif. – Mark Kotsay drove home Marco Scutaro with a two-out single in the 11th inning, and Oakland snapped an eight-game losing streak.

Jason Kendall tied it at 4 with a two-out RBI single in the ninth for the A’s, who rallied from a three-run deficit in the eighth to avoid their longest losing streak since dropping nine straight July 21-29, 1998.

After Charles Thomas and Scutaro singled with one out in the 11th against Travis Harper (1-3), the Devil Rays caught Thomas in a rundown between third and home plate after Kendall’s grounder. But Kotsay laced a clean single to right-center, drawing his teammates out of the dugout for the first celebration in a long time at the Coliseum.

Huston Street (2-1) got three strikeouts in 12â3 innings for the A’s, who didn’t allow a run after the fifth inning.

Mariners 4, Blue Jays 3

Seattle – Jamie Moyer pitched six solid innings for his 131st win with Seattle, passing Randy Johnson to become the club’s career leader. Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs for the Mariners, who won their third straight, matching a season high. The 42-year-old Moyer (5-2) improved his record in Seattle to 131-70 in 277 games. Moyer outlasted Toronto’s Ted Lilly (3-5), another lefty. It shaped up as a pitching duel through the early innings, until the Mariners took a 3-0 lead in the fourth.