American League Roundup : Royals Cure Brett’s Slump With Borrowed Bat

George Brett found the perfect remedy Sunday for a 2-for-23 slump--two home runs with a borrowed bat.

Those two homers, along with a single, with a bat Brett borrowed from teammate Kevin Seitzer keyed the Royals’ 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners. It gave the Royals a sweep of the four-game series at Kansas City.

“It was his batting-practice bat,” Brett, hitless in his last 10 appearances, added with a grin. “He wouldn’t let me use his game bat.

“I know I was swinging at some bad balls all of a sudden. I think I corrected the problem today. I just tried to relax as much as possible. I was just trying to relax, see the ball and react to it.”

It was the second time this year and the 12th time in his career that Brett homered twice in a game. His first homer scored Kurt Stillwell, who opened the game with a double. Then with two out in the third, Brett hit a pitch from Edwin Nunez (1-3) about 440 feet to straightaway center for his 10th home run of the year.

Seattle’s Harold Reynolds went 3 for 3 and set a club record with eight consecutive hits, breaking the mark held by Bruce Bochte and Phil Bradley.

Mark Gubicza (7-5) allowed 8 hits, struck out 6 and walked 3 in 7 innings for the Royals.

Minnesota 4, Oakland 3--The Twins won for the seventh time in 10 games and snapped Bob Welch’s 7-game winning streak with the victory at Minneapolis.

Kirby Puckett’s single in the sixth inning scored John Moses from second base with the winning run. It was only the second loss in Oakland’s last 11 games. The A’s have the best record in the major leagues at 38-16 and lead the second-place Twins by 10 games in the West.

“We played three hard games,” Oakland Manager Tony LaRussa said. “The fact that we won two is good. But I have a short memory. Right now I remember losing.”

Keith Atherton (4-1), the second of three Minnesota pitchers, allowed no runs in three innings. Jeff Reardon pitched 1 innings for his 14th save.

Welch (8-3) allowed 11 hits in 5 innings.

Chicago 5, Texas 4--Jerry Reuss earned his 202nd career victory as the White Sox, who had three runs in the first inning, won at Chicago.

Reuss (4-2) allowed 4 hits, walked 1 and struck out 3 in 6 innings. Bobby Thigpen, the third Chicago pitcher, worked 1 innings to earn his ninth save despite allowing a run-scoring single to pinch-hitter Cecil Espy in the ninth. Thigpen got Ruben Sierra to ground out to second with the bases loaded to end the game.

Toronto 12, Boston 4--Lloyd Moseby hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs and Rance Mulliniks and Kelly Gruber each had three hits and two RBIs, and the Blue Jays completed a four-game sweep at Boston.

The Blue Jays, still in sixth place in the East, won their sixth straight game by pounding 19 hits. The Red Sox lost for the ninth time in 12 games.

Boston’s Dwight Evans went 1 for 5 to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, one short of his career best, set in 1984.

New York 9, Baltimore 2--The Yankees sent 13 batters to the plate in the first inning and scored 9 runs on 5 hits, 4 walks and an error to beat the Orioles at Baltimore.

It was the second nine-run inning for the Yankees this season. It was also the second time this season the Orioles allowed nine runs in an inning. Six of the runs were unearned.

Richard Dotson (6-1) allowed six hits while getting his 100th career win.

The Yankees had nine hits and 10 walks. Rickey Henderson had three walks and two doubles in five plate appearances. Claudell Washington had three hits.

Detroit 6, Cleveland 2--Greg Swindell of the Indians, attempting to become the first 11-game winner of the year in the majors, lost for the first time since May 8 as the Tigers had 17 hits at Detroit.

Jeff Robinson (6-2) pitched a five-hitter for the Tigers, despite allowing a pair of solo home runs in the first inning. He also struck out 10 and walked only one en route to his second complete game of the season.

Luis Salazar led the Detroit offense with three singles and a two-run double. That was the Tigers’ only extra-base hit.