American League Roundup : Cotto Hits Homer and Double as Yankees Win

Little-used Henry Cotto drove in three runs with a home run and a double Thursday to lead the streaking New York Yankees to a 6-3 victory over the slumping Baltimore Orioles at New York.

The win moved the Yankees, who have won six of seven games, within four percentage points of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the East and gave them a sweep of the four-game series. The Orioles have lost 4 straight and 14 out of 15.

Cotto’s two-run homer in the fourth inning off losing pitcher Scott McGregor (2-7) was his fourth home run in 49 at-bats this season. Before this season, Cotto had only 2 homers in 280 career at-bats.

Rick Rhoden (8-4) got the win but had to leave the game after the fifth inning with a bruised knee, suffered when Mike Young struck him with a line drive in the fourth.

Tim Stoddard, the fourth New York pitcher, retired one batter for his third save.

Milwaukee 6, Toronto 3--The Brewers scored five runs after two were out in the sixth inning and held on to defeat the Blue Jays at Toronto.

The loss was the fourth in five games for the Blue Jays after a team-record 11-game winning streak.

Juan Nieves (5-4) allowed 6 hits and 2 runs in 6 innings for the victory, and Dan Plesac, the third Brewer pitcher, recorded his 15th save by pitching a scoreless ninth.

Dave Stieb (5-4), who gave up 4 runs and 5 hits in 5 innings, took the loss.

Cleveland 7, Boston 5--Chris Bando, Carmen Castillo and Cory Snyder hit home runs to lead the Indians at Cleveland.

Bando hit his second homer of the season with a man on in the second inning to give Cleveland a 3-0 lead.

The Red Sox cut Cleveland’s lead to one run at 4-3 in the top of the fifth, but Castillo made it 5-3 in the bottom of the inning when he hit his fifth home run. Castillo entered the game after Mel Hall suffered a slight hamstring pull.

Snyder accounted for Cleveland’s final run with his 13th home run in the eighth.

Reliever Mike Armstrong (1-0), who replaced starter Rich Yett in the fifth, pitched three scoreless innings and got the victory.

Boston’s Wade Boggs had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 19 games and improve his average to .364, best in the league.