Baseball Roundup : Blue Jays Win on Martinez’s Home Run in 12th

Buck Martinez hit a two-run homer off Aurelio Lopez in the 12th inning Thursday night as the Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit, 2-0, in the opener of a four-game series at Toronto.

The Blue Jays’ Jimmy Key, who pitched the first 10 innings, lost a bid for a no-hitter when Tom Brookens of Detroit singled to start the ninth. He left with a two-hitter, striking out six and walking two.

The winning rally began when Lopez (0-4) hit George Bell leading off. One out later, Martinez hit his fourth homer of the season.

Reliever Jim Acker (2-0), who came on in the 12th, was the winner.

With the victory over the defending World Series champions, the Blue Jays stretched their lead to 7 1/2 games over the Tigers, who won the American League East by 15 games over Toronto last season.

Toronto has won 14 of its 16 last games while Detroit, third in the AL East, has lost 7 of its last 10.

Key retired the first 17 Tigers on seven fly balls, five grounders and five strikeouts. He finished with six strikeouts and two walks.

He lost his bid for a perfect game in the sixth inning when shortstop Tony Fernandez dropped a sharp liner by Brookens. Brookens stole second and then Key walked Lou Whitaker, but induced Alan Trammell to ground into a fielder’s choice to end Detroit’s only serious threat.

Detroit reliever Willie Hernandez aggravated a sore back in the 11th inning and will be sidelined for an indefinite period.

“I’m going to have it X-rayed tomorrow and run a little, and see what the doctor has to say,” Hernandez said. “But I won’t lose a whole season trying to pitch too soon.”

Hernandez, last year’s American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner, hurt his back in his previous outing.

Chicago White Sox 4, Texas 3--Ron Kittle hit a three-run homer to lead the White Sox in a game delayed 1 hour 14 minutes by rain at Arlington, Tex.

The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak on the road for the White Sox. It was their first win on the road since May 8, when they beat Cleveland, 4-0.

Kittle’s homer, his sixth of the year, broke open a tie game in the sixth inning. It made a winner of Floyd Bannister (4-4), who worked 5 innings, walked two and struck out seven. He gave up all the Texas runs on six hits. Bob James pitched the last two innings to earn his 11th save.

Milwaukee 5, New York Yankees 1--Danny Darwin pitched a three-hitter to lead the Brewers at Milwaukee.

All the Yankees could muster was a fifth-inning homer by Don Baylor and late-inning singles by Willie Randolph and Bobby Meacham.

“What you have to do with the Yankees is keep the first two batters (Rickey Henderson and Randolph) off base because they’ve got power after that. They’ve got a great lineup,” said Darwin, who has pitched five complete games this season.

The Brewers scored four runs in the fifth inning on run-scoring hits by Earnest Riles, Cecil Cooper, Robin Yount and Ben Oglivie.

Cleveland 9, Seattle 1--Bert Blyleven pitched a five-hitter at Cleveland to help the Indians beat Seattle.

Blyleven struck out nine, including five in a row in the sixth and seventh innings, and walked three in hurling his sixth complete game of the year. The right-hander improved his career record to 199-173.

Brook Jacoby hit a two-run homer to cap a seven-run eighth inning for Cleveland, which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Chicago Cubs 3, Pittsburgh 2--Leon Durham didn’t start this game at Chicago, but he finished it with a tiebreaking double in the 12th inning.

Durham came into the game in the ninth after the Pirates had tied it at 2-2 in the eighth.

“I didn’t have any bad feelings about not starting,” Durham said. “The way I’ve been playing sometimes a day off helps a guy get his act together.”

It was Durham’s first game-winning RBI this season.

The victory was the fourth in six games for the Cubs, who moved within one game of the idle Mets in the National League East.