American League Roundup : Yankees End Their Tiger Stadium Drought at Nine, 7-6

The New York Yankees ended a nine-game losing streak in games at Detroit by outlasting the Tigers, 7-6, Thursday night as Steve Balboni and Roberto Kelly homered and Steve Sax singled home the tie-breaking run in the sixth inning.

The Tigers had beaten the Yankees 12 of the previous 13 times the teams had played at Tiger Stadium. It was New York’s first victory in Detroit since Aug. 8, 1987.

Eric Plunk (2-1), the second of four Yankee pitchers, worked two innings, giving up two hits and an unearned run. Dave Righetti pitched the last 1 1/3 innings to earn his 14th save.

With the score 5-5, Alvaro Espinoza doubled, took third on an infield hit by Kelly and scored on Sax’s single. Kelly went to third and scored what proved to be the decisive run on Luis Polonia’s grounder.

Boston 2, Milwaukee 1--At Milwauee, Lee Smith stopped the Brewers with the tying run on third base in the eighth inning and then struck out two batters in the ninth, ending a three-game Red Sox losing streak.

Smith entered the game in the eighth, with Paul Molitor, who singled to open the inning, on second base. After Molitor stole third, with the infield in, Smith got Gary Sheffield on a foul pop-up, walked Greg Brock intentionally and struck out Glenn Braggs to end the inning. Smith retired the side in order in the ninth for his ninth save.

Smith combined with starter John Dopson (8-5) for a six-hitter.

Rich Gedman broke a 1-1 tie with a seventh-inning RBI double as the Red Sox snapped Milwaukee’s three-game winning string.

Chris Bosio (7-5) pitched his fourth complete game for the Brewers. He gave up six hits, walked two and struck out eight.

Toronto 11, Baltimore 1--Steve Cummings, making his first major league start, held the Orioles to one run and six hits in seven innings at Baltimore, and the Blue Jays pulled out of a four-game losing streak with a season-high 19 hits.

The Blue Jays helped Cummings (1-0) with three double plays. Tom Henke and Duane Ward each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.

Baltimore starter Dave Schmidt (7-7) faced five batters in the fourth without getting an out and was charged with six runs. Jose Bautista worked the rest of the game, yielding five runs and seven hits. Manny Lee, Junior Felix, Ernie Whitt and George Bell each had three hits, and Tony Fernandez drove in three runs for Toronto.

Seattle 2, Texas 0--Scott Bankhead held the Rangers to three singles in eight innings, and Darnell Coles went 3 for 4 with an RBI at Texas.

Bankhead (6-4) won his fourth consecutive decision and is unbeaten in his last eight starts. He walked none and struck out four before giving way to Mike Schooler, who gave up one hit in the ninth for his 16th save.

Bankhead did not permit a runner beyond first base. He has given up three or fewer earned runs in 14 of his 16 starts. Charlie Hough (5-8) took the loss.

Chicago 12, Kansas City 5--Ozzie Guillen and Dave Gallagher hit two-run doubles in a tiebreaking, seven-run sixth inning, as the White Sox defeated the Royals at Chicago.

Winner Melido Perez (5-9), who came into the game with an earned-run average of 6.26, yielded six hits and four runs, three earned, in 7 2/3 innings.

The first five runs in the Chicago sixth were charged to Terry Leach (1-2) after Bret Saberhagen pitched the first five innings.

Greg Walker, a .194 hitter, drove in two runs with a homer and a double for Chicago, and Carlton Fisk also had two RBIs.

The White Sox had 15 hits off five pitchers in winning for only the 12th time in 39 home games.