American League Roundup : Tigers Knock Yankees Out of Lead on Brookens’ Homer

Tom Brookens, who punches in and punches out like a guy on the assembly line, punched the New York Yankees’ lights out Monday night.

Brookens’ one-out home run in the 10th inning lifted the Detroit Tigers into first place in the East with a 2-1 victory over the Yankees at Detroit.

“This is not a spectacular team,” Brookens said. “We’re kind of blue collar. We have some good days and we have some bad days. We punch the clock on the way in and we punch it again on the way out.”

The Yankees held the lead since May 3. Detroit has won 10 of 13 games and leads New York by one-half game.

Brookens hit his fourth home run into the left-field stands off Cecilio Guante (4-3), giving the victory to Guillermo Hernandez (5-2).

The Yankees tied the score in the ninth on Dave Winfield’s two-out double off the pipe at the top of the fence in left field, scoring Jack Clark, who singled.

Jeff Robinson, who was one out from his second successive shutout, had his string of scoreless innings ended at 32.

Detroit took a 1-0 lead against Tommy John in the second on Darrell Evans’ run-scoring double.

Oakland 5, Milwaukee 4--Pinch hitter Terry Steinbach greeted reliever Dan Plesac with a run-scoring double with two out in the ninth inning to push the Athletics past the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Eric Plunk (5-1) got the victory with 1 innings of relief and Dennis Eckersley worked the ninth for his 21st save as the A’s increased their West lead to five games over Minnesota.

Oakland took a 4-0 lead against Teddy Higuera on Dave Henderson’s homer in the second, Mark McGwire’s RBI triple in the fourth and a two-run homer by Dave Parker in the sixth. Higuera was ejected when he hit Henderson with a pitch after Parker’s homer.

Bob Welch pitched five shutout innings for the A’s, but left after suffering a bruised right hand when he was hit by Dale Sveum’s grounder.

Milwaukee got back into the game on Jeffrey Leonard’s three-run homer in the sixth and Paul Molitor’s run-scoring single in the seventh.

Boston 14, Cleveland 7--Mike Greenwell hit two homers and Jim Rice and Ellis Burks also homered as the Red Sox routed the Indians at Cleveland.

The Red Sox had 21 hits one day after Boston set a major league season high with 23 hits against Baltimore.

Bruce Hurst (9-3) became only the third left-handed starter to beat the Indians this year, despite giving up 7 runs on 11 hits in 6 innings, including homers by Cory Snyder and Ron Kittle.

Cleveland left-hander Greg Swindell (10-5), who became the major leagues’ first 10-game winner on May 30, lost his fourth straight, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits in 2 innings.

Texas 4, Seattle 3--Jeff Kunkel tied the score with a solo homer in the eighth inning and won it with a two-out, run-scoring double in the ninth innning at Arlington, Tex., as the Rangers handed the Mariners their eighth straight defeat.

Jeff Russell (7-0) pitched his third straight complete game for Texas, allowing four hits and striking out four.

Seattle’s Mark Langston went 7 innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven, but Mike Schooler (0-1) took the defeat.

Chicago 5, Kansas City 3--Steve Lyons hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth at Chicago and the White Sox handed the Royals their fourth straight defeat.

The Royals tied the score in the top of the ninth on Bill Buckner’s RBI single. Donnie Hill gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead in the eighth with a pinch RBI single.

Toronto 5, Baltimore 2--Dave Stieb earned his ninth straight victory, allowing four hits in six innings, and Fred McGriff hit a two-run homer as the Blue Jays downed the Orioles at Toronto.

Stieb (10-3) handled all the Orioles with the exception of Cal Rikpen, who homered in the third and added a run-scoring double in the fifth. Tom Henke pitched the ninth and got his 13th save.