American League Roundup : Rice’s Slam Helps Angry Red Sox Rout Twins

As if he weren’t having enough trouble trying to keep his job, Manager Ray Miller of the Minnesota Twins managed to get the Boston Red Sox angry.

With Jim Rice hitting a grand slam and Roger Clemens pitching his usual strong game, the Red Sox smashed the Twins, 12-2, Friday night at Boston to increase their lead in the AL East to 5 1/2 games over Toronto.

After the Blue Jays swept a three-game series with the Twins last weekend, Miller, whose club is last in the West, put down the Red Sox.

“If the Blue Jays go head-to-head with Boston, they are going to eat them up,” Miller said. “The pressure is on Boston. The way they are playing a lot of people expect them to choke.”

Instead of choking, the Red Sox have won six in a row and show no signs of folding. Clemens, who held the Twins to a run and six hits in seven innings, improved his record to 21-4.

“I just want to go out there and have a good September; I don’t worry about what anyone says,” Rice said. “I don’t pay much attention to statistics, but I think I’ve always done well in September.

“I want to do well again because we’re in a pennant race.”

Although his home run total is down, Rice has driven in 90 runs and is batting .326.

About the only consolation for the Twins was that Kirby Puckett had two singles, becoming the first hitter in the majors to get 200 hits, and moved ahead of Wade Boggs in the batting race, .350 to .349.

Texas 7, Kansas City 6--Darrell Porter, a last-minute replacement in the starting lineup, highlighted a six-run fifth inning with a grand slam at Arlington, Tex., as the Rangers moved within 6 1/2 games of the AL West-leading Angels.

Don Slaught was listed as the starting catcher for the Rangers, but after the start of the game was delayed by rain for 2 hours 23 minutes, Slaught was scratched and Porter was penciled in.

Chicago 5, Toronto 0--The Blue Jays ran afoul of the hottest pitching staff in baseball at Chicago. Richard Dotson (10-13) held the Blue Jays to four hits and pitched his first shutout in 2 1/2 years.

White Sox pitchers have had three shutouts in the last five games. They have yielded only four runs in the last six games.

It was the fifth consecutive game in which the White Sox have had a shutout going into the eighth inning.

The loss was only the Blue Jays’ second in the last 12 games.

Cleveland 13, Milwaukee 5--Cory Snyder led a 15-hit attack at Milwaukee with his fourth home run in the last five games. Phil Niekro (11-10) breezed to his 311th career victory.

Snyder, who hit two home runs Thursday night, has 21 home runs in 77 games. In two games at Milwaukee, the Indians have pounded out 32 hits and scored 28 runs. The Brewers have lost seven in a row.

Seattle 8, Baltimore 2--It was about a month ago that the Orioles pulled within 2 1/2 games of first place in the East, and many people thought they would go on to win the division.

Instead, they have gone into a monumental slump. With Mike Moore pitching a six-hitter at Baltimore, the Orioles fell 14 games behind the Red Sox. They are 7-21 since making the drive that put them in contention.

Jim Presley and Scott Bradley each drove in two runs, and Phil Bradley hit his 11th home run to lead the Mariner attack on Ken Dixon (10-11).

Detroit 9, Oakland 4--Kirk Gibson’s two-run single in the seventh inning gave the Tigers a 5-4 lead, and they went on to beat the A’s at Oakland.