American League Roundup : Thornton Supplies Own Fireworks

Andre Thornton, just as he has done for much of the past decade, provided the power Friday night at Cleveland as the Indians entertained a Fireworks Night crowd of 61,411 with an 11-2 rout of the Minnesota Twins. It was the largest crowd in the majors this season.

Thornton hit a two-run single and a three-run home run to make it easy for knuckleballer Tom Candiotti to improve his record to 4-6. Although he gave up 11 hits, Candiotti struck out 8 and did not walk a batter.

While Thornton has been their power hitter since 1977, the player the Indians are grooming as a successor, Cory Snyder, made his major league debut. Snyder, 23, was brought up from Maine of the International League because of an injury to Pat Tabler. He had a triple in four at-bats and scored a run.

“For the most part, I’ve carried the Indian offense since I came here,” Thornton said after his 10th home run highlighted a four-run fourth inning that finished Bert Blyleven. “I don’t feel I’m stretching the truth. I’ve averaged 22 home runs and 75 runs batted in per year, and that includes the 1 1/2 years I missed because of injury.

“My fervent hope this year was that I wouldn’t lead Cleveland in homers or RBIs. Not because I expected to play badly, but because I wanted the younger players to blossom.”

Although Thornton leads in homers, his 30 runs batted in trail Joe Carter’s total of 37.

Three Minnesota errors and a hit batsman cost Blyleven three unearned runs in the first. But after that, Blyleven was hammered. The home run by Thornton was the 21st he has given up this season.

New York 3, Baltimore 1--On Friday the 13th at Baltimore, the Yankees got a big lift from No. 13.

Mike Pagliarulo wears that number, and the third baseman hit a run-scoring double that keyed a two-run fifth inning as the Yankees moved into second place in the East, ahead of the Orioles.

Bob Tewksbury and two relievers held the Orioles, losers of four of five, to five hits.

“I wore No. 6 last year,” Pagliarulo said, “but Roy White returned as coach and wanted it back. I tried for several others and finally settled on 13.”

Boston 5, Milwaukee 3--Although Wade Boggs continued in his worst slump of the season, the Red Sox again proved they can win without help from the majors’ top hitter.

Jim Rice doubled home the tie-breaking run in the fifth inning, and Bob Stanley pitched two scoreless innings to save the win for Oil Can Boyd (8-4).

Boggs went 0 for 4 and, for the first time since the opening game of the season, struck out twice in the game. Since his average soared to .404 last Friday, Boggs is 2 for 17 and his average has tumbled to .381.

Stanley earned his 11th save.

Detroit 10, Toronto 5--Darrell Evans made a slight adjustment in his batting stance, and it produced a large improvement in his hitting.

In this game at Toronto, Evans drove in four runs, three with a home run. His 10th homer was his first since May 22.

“Dave Bergman noticed I had been keeping my hips open,” Evans said. “As a result, I had no power and no bat speed. I just closed my hips, and the ball flew out of here.”

Evans also had two singles.

Texas 2, Oakland 1--Pete Incaviglia drove in both runs for the streaking Rangers at Oakland, the winning run with a single in the eighth that broke a 1-1 tie.

The Rangers, who have won 10 of their last 11, stretched their lead in the West to 4 1/2 games. The A’s, who were challenging for first place just a couple of weeks ago, have lost nine in a row and trail the Rangers by 10 games.

Incaviglia’s sacrifice fly in the first inning gave the Rangers the lead, but Tony Phillips singled in the tying run in the fifth.

Seattle 11, Chicago 10--John Moses’ single over a drawn-in outfield scored Spike Owen from third base with the winning run in the ninth inning at Seattle.