AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Boggs Falls Short, but Red Sox Rout A’s

Wade Boggs, who has won five American League batting titles, doesn’t have many other goals. One is to play for a World Series champion. Another is to hit for the cycle.

He came close to the latter Saturday at Boston when he drove in five runs to lead the Red Sox to a 12-3 rout of the World Series champion Oakland Athletics.

Boggs, playing in his 1,200th game, hit a two-run homer, a bases-loaded double and a single to lead off a four-run first inning. He also drew a walk.

“It would have been nice to get a triple when I walked the last time up,” Boggs said after doubling his RBI total for the season. “In my entire career, I never hit for the cycle. But it isn’t something you think of during a game.”

The Red Sox had 13 hits, but Tony Pena went hitless, ending his hitting streak at 15 games. Jody Reed, who homered in the two previous games, went four for five and drove in three runs, and Dwight Evans hit a three-run homer, his third of the season. He has 369 homers and is tied with Ralph Kiner for 33rd place on the all-time list.

All of that hitting made it easy for Greg Harris (2-0). Harris, normally a reliever, was making his first start in two years. He gave up only three hits in five innings. Rob Murphy and Daryl Irvine finished up.

Texas 9, Kansas City 2--The Rangers have developed another solid starting pitcher and are challenging the Athletics in the West.

Kevin Brown, pitching effectively into the eighth inning at Kansas City, joined Nolan Ryan as a four-game winner and the Rangers (11-7) are only 1 1/2 games behind the A’s.

The Royals, who were supposed to challenge Oakland, lost their sixth in a row. Storm Davis (1-3), who went into the game with a 12-3 record against the Rangers, didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. The Royals, in last place in the West, are seven games behind Oakland. Their 5-12 start is the worst in club history.

The Royals are playing without their starting outfield.

Bo Jackson and Jim Eisenreich are away taking care of family business, and Danny Tartabull has a torn leg muscle. Jackson is expected to return today.

Cleveland 3, Minnesota 0--John Farrell probably had more important things on his mind than baseball, but he didn’t show it as he pitched well for 8 1/3 innings to help the Indians remain the only major league team unbeaten at home. They are 5-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

Farrell had to rush his 11-month-old son to a hospital Friday night because of an undisclosed illness.

Mitch Webster drove in all three runs with a pair of two-out doubles.

Detroit 13, Milwaukee 5--Because Cecil Fielder is hitting the ball the way he did last season in Japan, Frank Tanana has his 200th victory.

Tanana gave up five runs in the first four innings at Detroit, but with Fiedler hitting two home runs and driving in six runs, the Tigers bounced back. They scored nine runs in their last two at-bats.

Chicago 5, Toronto 4--The unseasonably warm weather in Chicago agrees with Ivan Calderon, who hit a two-run home run to make Jerry Kutzler’s major-league debut a success.

Kutzler, brought up Friday from the minors, gave up four hits and three runs before leaving with nobody out in the sixth.

The Blue Jays have lost two in a row to the White Sox, a team they beat 11 out of 12 times last season.

Seattle 4, Baltimore 3--Jeffrey Leonard’s sacrifice fly in the ninth inning at Baltimore gave the Mariners their fourth victory in a row.