American League Roundup : Barfield Keeps Tigers Out of First in the East

Jesse Barfield tuned out the trade talk and turned on the power.

Barfield drove in four runs, including three on his second home run in two games, as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tigers, 6-4, Sunday to gain a split of the four-game series at Detroit.

“It’s been difficult, it really has,” said Barfield, who is batting .221 and continually hears trade rumors. “The way things were when we left Toronto, I wasn’t sure I’d be going back there. But I’ve had a good series. We’ll see what happens now.”

It was the second four-RBI game of the season for Barfield, who hit a grand slam off Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen April 19. Against the Tigers, who missed a chance to move past the New York Yankees and take over the lead in the East, he snapped a 4-4 tie in the ninth with a two-out run-scoring single off reliever Mike Henneman. Manny Lee followed with another run-scoring single for the two-run lead.

Matt Nokes had four hits for the Tigers, including a two-run home run in the sixth.

Cleveland 11, New York 3--The Indians moved within 2 games of the Yankees and 1 1/2 of second-place Detroit as Andy Allanson hit his first career grand slam and Joe Carter added 3 RBIs to back the 10-strikeout pitching of Tom Candiotti at Cleveland.

The Indians scored three in the third, one in the fifth, two in the sixth and five in the seventh. The Yankees were limited to two singles through five innings before scoring three times in the sixth.

The three-game series drew 155,333.

Boston 15, Baltimore 7--Marty Barrett had 4 of Boston’s 23 hits, the most by a major league team this season, and Mike Greenwell drove in 5 runs to lead the rout at Baltimore.

The previous high for hits in a game this season was 22, by the Dodgers against the Cincinnati Reds June 3. The Red Sox and Orioles, who hit three home runs each, combined for 37 hits, also a major league season-high, eclipsing the 34 hits by Toronto and Boston had June 5.

Ellis Burks, Wade Boggs, Dwight Evans and Greenwell had three hits each, and every Boston starter had at least one.

Dickie Noles (0-2), whose earned-run average rose to 24.32, was knocked out in the second after allowing 5 hits and 4 runs, all earned.

Minnesota 3, Seattle 1--The Twins won for the 21st time in 27 games as Gary Gaetti drove in three runs with a solo home run and a bases-loaded single and Bert Blyleven won his third straight start.

At Minneapolis, Blyleven (6-6) increased his career record against Seattle to 12-3. He was relieved by Juan Berenguer to start the eighth, and Jeff Reardon got the last four outs for his 20th save.

The Mariners have lost 7 straight and 10 of 11.

Chicago 5, Milwaukee 0--Daryl Boston hit a two-run homer and Gary Redus had three hits and stole three bases to lead the White Sox at Milwaukee and snap Tom Filer’s 12-game winning streak in the majors that spanned six seasons.

Filer (4-1) allowed 3 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings to lose his first decision since 1982, when he was with the Chicago Cubs. Filer won one for the Cubs in 1982 and seven for Toronto in 1985 before winning his first four decisions this season.

Texas 5, Oakland 4--Pete O’Brien hit a home run off Rick Honeycutt in the 11th inning at Oakland, cutting the Athletics’ lead in the West again.

Oakland, which beat Texas in 14 and 13 innings Friday and Saturday, leads Minnesota by 4 games, the A’s smallest lead since May 1. They led by 11 on June 4.

Dave Parker’s pinch-hit home run off Craig McMurtry with two out in the bottom of the ninth tied the score, 4-4.

Oakland’s Jose Canseco hit a two-run homer in the sixth, his major league-leading 18th.