American League Roundup : Twins’ Victory Is Their 17th in Last 23 Games

The Minnesota Twins are mainly in a race for second place with the Kansas City Royals, what with the Oakland Athletics comfortably atop the American League West.

But the defending world champions have been playing like title contenders, even staying above .500 on the road.

Tuesday at Minneapolis, Bert Blyleven and two relievers combined to stop the Chicago White Sox, 3-1, the Twins’ 17th win in their last 23 games.

Blyleven (5-6) struck out five and walked none in 6 innings before giving way to Juan Berenguer with a runner on first. Berenguer pitched 1 innings, and Jeff Reardon got the last three outs for his 17th save.

The Twins’ Dan Gladden hit his fourth leadoff homer of the season, and fifth overall, off Dave LaPoint, who is 0-4 since May 14. Minnesota made it 3-0 in the fifth, when a two-out triple by Greg Gagne scored Steve Lombardozzi and Gladden.

Detroit 9, Baltimore 3--Tom Brookens went 4 for 4 and drove in six runs with a grand slam and a two-run single to lead the Tigers at Detroit.

Brookens gave the Tigers a 5-0 lead in the second inning when he hit the grand slam of Dickie Noles, the second of Brookens’ career.

Noles, who allowed 6 hits and retired just 6 of the 14 batters he faced, was making his first appearance with Baltimore since being recalled from triple-A Rochester, N.Y., last week.

Toronto 3, Cleveland 2--The Indians dropped out of a second-place tie with the Tigers as the Blue Jays scored twice in the eighth to win at Toronto.

George Bell doubled home Lloyd Moseby with the tying run and scored on Ernie Whitt’s sacrifice fly for the go-ahead run.

Cleveland’s Tom Candiotti (6-6), who has lost five straight, pitched into the seventh inning with a four-hit shutout and a 2-0 lead when Whitt homered.

Ron Kittle hit his sixth and seventh homers in consecutive at-bats in the fourth and sixth innings to give the Indians their 2-0 lead.

Milwaukee 5, Seattle 1--Tom Filer allowed six hits in seven innings for his 12th straight victory since 1982, and Rob Deer hit his 10th homer to lead the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Filer, 4-0 this season and 11-0 in his American League career, has not lost since June, 1982, when he was with the Chicago Cubs. After going 7-0 with Toronto in 1985, he did not pitch in the majors until he was called up by the Brewers last month. He has won four of his five starts.

Deer hit a three-homer in the third off starter Mike Moore (3-7) to give Milwaukee a 5-0 lead. Deer, who also singled, is 9 for 18 with 3 homers and 7 RBIs in his career against Moore.

Boston 7, New York 3--Ellis Burks broke a sixth-inning 3-3 tie with a 420-foot double, and Wade Boggs drove in two runs at Boston as the Red Sox stopped the Yankees’ winning streak at three and cut their lead in the East over Detroit to two games.

Mike Smithson (2-2), signed as a free agent last winter, scattered nine hits in seven innings and got the victory. Lee Smith pitched two innings for his ninth save.

Boggs raised his average from .354 to .362 with three hits. He singled for an RBI in a two-run third and doubled off the wall in left-center for a run tying the score, 3-3, in the fifth.

Don Mattingly, celebrating his return from the disabled list, had two doubles and a single but didn’t figure in the New York scoring.

Kansas City 2, Oakland 1--Bret Saberhagen, with help from three relievers in the ninth inning, pitched the Royals to their 11th win in 12 games and 4th straight with the victory at Oakland.

Kansas City is 4-0 against West-leading Oakland in 1988.

Saberhagen (9-5) recorded the fifth victory in his last sixth decisions. Steve Farr, Jerry Don Gleaton and Gene Garber held the one-run lead in the ninth.