AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Twins Make Up for Lost Nights, Get 19 Hits in 16-0 Rout of Red Sox

After being on the wrong end of two blowouts earlier in the week, the Minnesota Twins had a better time Friday night at Minneapolis.

Kirby Puckett drove in three runs and scored three times, and the Twins ended up with 19 hits in a 16-0 rout of the Boston Red Sox.

The Twins had been defeated Tuesday by Baltimore, 10-2, and Wednesday by New York, 12-0.

“You’re going to have games when you get blown out,” Puckett said. “We were two nights in a row. Now we’re on the other side of the fence, and it was great for us.”

Puckett was replaced in the lineup in the sixth inning after he hit a two-run triple past diving right fielder Tom Brunansky. Puckett also had a run-scoring double in the fourth to give the Twins to a 10-0 lead.

The Twins went through five Red Sox pitchers, including outfielder Danny Heep, who came in to pitch the eighth inning. He gave up one run, fewer than any other Boston player to take the mound.

Minnesota’s Roy Smith, whose longest outing this season had been 6 2/3 innings, pitched a four-hitter. He retired 12 consecutive batters from the fourth to the eighth inning, struck out three and walked none.

Boston starter Eric Hetzel, lasted only 2 2/3 innings.

Detroit 2, Chicago 1--Kenny Williams’ seventh-inning double broke a tie to help give the Tigers a victory at Detroit.

Tracy Jones was safe at second on third baseman Robin Ventura’s throwing error and Ed Romero sacrificed. Williams then doubled to center off White Sox starter Greg Hibbard to score Jones.

Paul Gibson got the victory in relief of Dan Petry, and Mike Henneman got his 11th save.

Oakland 5, Cleveland 2--Mark McGwire had a solo home run and a run-scoring single and Jose Canseco hit his major league-leading 18th home run at Oakland as the Athletics won their fifth game in a row.

Rickey Henderson got his 20th steal in the fifth inning, moving to within one of Ty Cobb’s 62-year-old American League stolen base record of 892. Henderson, after being thrown out at second in the third inning by Sandy Alomar, stole third after a double.

McGwire ended a two-for-22 slump by hitting a home run over the center-field fence off Greg Swindell in the second inning. It put the Athletics ahead, 1-0.

Swindell allowed Canseco’s homer in the eighth after Carney Lansford singled. Canseco has five home runs in his last five games.

Toronto 3, Seattle 1--Fred McGriff’s two-run home run in the 11th inning at Seattle helped the Blue Jays snap a four-game losing streak.

George Bell led off the inning with an infield single off Bill Swift (2-2). McGriff followed with his seventh home run.

The Mariners scored one run after there were two out in the fourth. Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez drew walks from rookie Willie Blair, and Henry Cotto followed with a looping single down the right-field line to score Griffey.

Toronto tied it, 1-1, in the seventh when McGriff’s groundout scored Kelly Gruber, who led off the inning with a single and went to third on a single by Bell.

Jim Acker (1-1), who pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief, was credited with the victory. Tom Henke pitched the last two-thirds of an inning for his fifth save.

New York 6, Kansas City 3--Jesse Barfield’s check-swing double drove in three runs in the first inning and poor fielding by the Royals helped the Yankees win at Kansas City.

A throwing error by rookie second baseman Terry Shumpert helped the Yankees score two runs in the fifth inning. The Royals dropped to 15-25, matching the Houston Astros for the worst record in the major leagues.

Chuck Cary pitched five innings, walking two, striking out five and giving up four hits. Lee Guetterman gave up three hits in three innings and Dave Righetti pitched the ninth for his ninth save.

Loser Storm Davis departed in the fifth inning.

Baltimore 12, Texas 2--Pete Harnisch shut down the Rangers for the second time in six days and Joe Orsulak was four for five with four RBIs as the Orioles won easily at Arlington, Tex.

Harnisch gave up a run in the first inning on Harold Baines’ sacrifice fly, then retired 14 of the next 16 batters. He pitched seven innings, allowing seven hits.

Bob Melvin, who replaced injured starting catcher Mickey Tettleton in the second inning, had a two-run home run, and Baltimore added a run on Rene Gonzales’ suicide squeeze bunt.

Tettleton was hit on the right elbow by Kevin Brown’s pitch in the first inning. X-rays of the elbow were negative.

Brown gave up seven runs, four earned, and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.