American League Roundup : Blue Jays Beat Clemens for Fifth Straight Win

If the starting pitcher sets the tone of a game, as Toronto Manager Jimy Williams says, then Roger Clemens and the Boston Red Sox should have been well on their way to victory Saturday night. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, however, it was lack of execution that caused their downfall.

Toronto capitalized on Boston fielding lapses for three runs, two unearned, off Clemens in seven innings and then hammered two relievers in a seven-run ninth Saturday en route to a 10-2 victory at Fenway Park.

Jim Clancy (3-6) blanked Boston until two-out back-to-back home runs by Ellis Burks, his fourth, and Dwight Evans, also his fourth, in the eighth inning before giving way to relievers.

Kelly Gruber hit a three-run homer off Lee Smith, and Sil Campusano lined a three-run double off Zach Crouch in the ninth to insure the Blue Jay victory.

“You don’t expect to win a game, 10-2, against Clemens, but he really had nothing to do with it,” Clancy said after beating Boston for the first time since 1984. “Everything happened after he left.”

Clemens, who became a father for the second time last Monday, returned to Boston from Houston late Friday night. He threw only 107 pitches but was excused by McNamara after allowing just one unearned run, four hits and striking out nine.

“He’s been through a lot the last few days, and after the sixth I asked him for one more inning,” McNamara said. “Bob Stanley did his job in the eighth, but (Lee) Smith and (Zach) Crouch couldn’t get them out in the ninth.”

Clemens’ league-leading ERA dropped to 1.78 and he increased his strikeout total to a major-league leading 125.

The victory was Toronto’s fifth straight. Boston dropped its third in a row and fell to .500 for the first time since April 10.

Oakland 6, Minnesota 4--Ron Hassey’s run-scoring single broke an eighth-inning tie, and Don Baylor followed with a three-run homer as the Athletics beat the Twins at Minnesota.

Storm Davis (5-2) allowed eight hits and one run in seven innings. Dennis Eckersley got the final three outs for his 19th save in 23 appearances.

Oakland has won nine of its last 10 games, and the victory increased its American League West lead to 11 games.

Detroit 5, Cleveland 2--Pat Sheridan homered and drove in two runs to back five-hit pitching by Doyle Alexander as the Tigers beat the Indians at Detroit.

Alexander (5-4) struck out five and walked two to end his two-game losing streak in pitching his fourth complete game.

Alexander entered the game needing only 4 innings to go over 3,000 for his career. He joins Frank Tanana, Bert Blyleven, Nolan Ryan, Rick Reuschel, Don Sutton, Jerry Reuss and Tommy John as the only active major leaguers with that many innings pitched.

Chicago 10, Texas 8--Gary Redus hit his second grand slam of the week in the ninth inning to lift the White Sox to a 10-8 victory over the Rangers at Chicago.

Redus’ home run to left field off Dale Mohorcic (2-3) was his third of the season. He had hit his first major league grand slam Tuesday at Detroit.

Kansas City 4, Seattle 3--Willie Wilson’s RBI single capped a two-run rally in the ninth as the Royals beat the Mariners at Kansas City.

Gary Thurman, in his first game since being recalled Friday from Omaha, drew a one-out walk from Mark Langston (5-5) and went to second on pinch-hitter Bill Buckner’s single.

Kurt Stillwell’s single scored Thurman, and Wilson followed with a liner into left that scored pinch-runner Jim Eisenreich.

Winner Steve Farr (1-0), the fourth Kansas City pitcher, retired the only batter he faced. Langston struck out seven to raise his total to 102, second in the American League to Clemens.