American League Roundup : Red Sox Build Lead to 6 1/2 With a 9-0 Rout of Twins

The Boston Red Sox are taking the suspense out of race in the A.L. East.

Jim Rice hit his second grand slam in three days, and the Red Sox rolled to their eighth straight victory Sunday, a 9-0 rout of the Minnesota Twins at Boston.

The Red Sox, who swept the three-game series from Minnesota, increased their East lead over the Toronto Blue Jays to 6 1/2 games.

Boston finished 51-33 against West teams this season and wound up an 8-1 homestand. Minnesota won just 2 of 12 against Boston this season and was 0-6 at Fenway Park.

Rice, who has 95 runs batted in, drove Neal Heaton’s first pitch into the Boston bullpen in the third inning for his 16th homer of the season and the sixth grand slam of his career.

“I’ve had holes so big in right that you could drive two trucks through them,” Rice said. “They threw me a fastball away and I just went with the pitch. I felt I had a bad swing on the pitch. I thought it was a fly to right, but it turned out much better.”

Bruce Hurst (10-7) allowed nine hits, struck out seven and did not walk a batter in his third shutout of the season.

Baltimore 8, Seattle 0--Eddie Murray got his 1,000th career RBI and the Orioles backed Scott McGregor’s six-hit pitching with homers by John Shelby, Floyd Rayford and Mike Young to beat the Mariners and snap a four-game losing streak at Baltimore.

Murray, who went 3 for 5 and drove in three runs, became the first player since Frank Robinson in 1965 to reach 1,000 RBIs in his first 10 major league seasons.

“I have nothing to say about that,” said Murray, who isn’t talking to reporters these days.

Robinson, now an Oriole coach, said of Murray: “That points out how steady Eddie has been. You have to be consistent to collect that many RBIs in that period of time. And, you have to go out and play every day. You can’t do it playing 120 games a year.”

McGregor (10-11) notched his 21st career shutout and third complete game this season. It marked the first complete-game shutout by an Oriole this season. McGregor, who at one point retired 13 in a row, struck out seven and walked none.

Milwaukee 7, Cleveland 2--Pete Vuckovich won his first major league game in more than a year, and Robin Yount and Rick Manning hit home runs as the Brewers ended an eight-game losing streak at Milwaukee.

Vuckovich (1-1) won for the first time since Aug. 8, 1985. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs on six hits in his second start of the season. Dan Plesac pitched three innings of one-hit relief for his 11th save.

Ken Schrom (12-7) was knocked out in the fourth, allowing seven hits and four runs.

Chicago 4, Toronto 3--Harold Baines singled home the tying run and Jerry Hairston walked with the bases loaded in the seventh inning for the winning run as the White Sox beat the Blue Jays in Chicago.

Reliever Gene Nelson (6-6) pitched three scoreless innings and Bobby Thigpen worked the final two innings for his fifth save.

Chicago starter Steve Carlton lasted just 3 innings and gave up three runs on four hits.

Kansas City 5, Texas 2--Angel Salazar drove in three runs, two on a sixth-inning double that broke a 2-2 tie, and Danny Jackson scattered eight hits as the Royals put another dent in the Rangers’ hopes in the West.

Jackson (10-10) got his first complete-game victory since July 11, 1985, and dropped second-place Rangers 7 1/2 games behind the Angels. Charlie Hough (12-9) took the loss.

Oakland 8, Detroit 4--Jerry Willard’s three-run homer capped a five-run fifth inning as the A’s beat the Tigers in Oakland.

A’s rookie Jose Canseco hit a sacrifice fly for his 106th RBI of the season.