AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Blowers, Yankees at a Loss

Mike Blowers of the New York Yankees might have been able to make sense of it if the balls hit toward him Thursday were line drives, choppers or perfectly executed drag bunts.

But Blowers, a rookie, tied an American League record for errors by a third baseman when he failed to come up with four routine ground balls in the Yankees’ 10-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians in New York.

“It’s not like I flubbed four hard-hit balls,” Blowers said. “I’m still trying to figure out what happened.”

Blowers joined 20 other third basemen in the record book by committing two errors in the seventh inning, one in the eighth and one in the ninth. The last AL third baseman to commit four errors in a game was Floyd Rayford of the Baltimore Orioles in 1986.

David Brain of the Boston Braves set the modern major league record for errors by a third baseman when he committed five in 1906.

“I just couldn’t find any kind of rhythm, couldn’t get comfortable,” Blowers said. “I guess it’s just one of those days, one of those things.”

As a result of Blowers’ errors, the Indians scored four unearned runs in the seventh, one in the eighth and two in the ninth to hand the Yankees their fifth consecutive loss.

Blowers was acquired by the Yankees in August from the Montreal Expos in a trade for John Candelaria. He made four errors in 13 games with the Yankees last season and had only two errors this season before Thursday’s game.

“The kid just had a rough day,” Yankee Manager Bucky Dent said. “I feel for him. I’m not going to rip him. We all make errors. He just made a bunch all at one time.”

Sandy Alomar drove in five runs on three hits, including a tie-breaking, two-run double in the eighth that gave the Indians a 7-5 lead.

Jesse Orosco (1-1), the Indians’ fourth pitcher, got the victory, and Doug Jones earned his eighth save.

Yankee reliever Jeff Robinson (0-1), who gave up two runs on three hits in the seventh, took the loss.

Minnesota 3, Detroit 1--The Tigers led the major leagues with 103 losses last season. They’re on track to do the same this year.

Gary Gaetti’s two-run homer in the 10th inning at Detroit extended the Tigers’ losing streak to five games and left them last in the East with an 8-15 record--the same mark they had last season after 23 games.

Mike Henneman (0-2) walked Kirby Puckett to lead off the 10th before Gaetti hit his fourth home run. Gaetti, who had two three-run homers Wednesday night, hit an 0-and-1 pitch from Henneman over the left-field wall.

Allan Anderson gave up one run on six hits in eight innings before he was replaced by Terry Leach (2-0), who pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.

Rick Aguilera pitched the 10th and earned his fifth save.

Milwaukee 9, Kansas City 5--Robin Yount’s three-run, inside-the-park homer at Kansas City paced the Brewers and dropped the Royals to 6-14, the worst record in the major leagues.

Yount, who has half the 12 inside-the-park homers in Brewers history, chased Mark Gubicza (1-4) with his homer in the fourth.

Jamie Navarro (1-0) went five innings to earn the win.

Dan Plesac earned his fourth save.