AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Clemens Just Pitches, Gets 10th Win

After last weekend’s brushback battles, the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox were given a warning before Friday night’s game at Fenway Park: There had better not be any more incidents.

So Roger Clemens, who precipitated last Sunday’s brawl in Cleveland by hitting Stanley Jefferson with his second pitch, stuck to business.

Clemens was not his usual overpowering self, but he became the major league’s first 10-game winner as the Red Sox beat the Indians, 4-3, for Boston’s sixth consecutive victory.

“There was a warning (from umpire crew chief Joe Brinkman) at home plate,” Cleveland Manager John McNamara said. “It came down from the American League office. I thought everything was over with Sunday.”

The Red Sox rallied to win on Ellis Burks’ two-run homer in the sixth inning and Jody Reed’s suicide squeeze in the seventh.

Clemens (10-2) won his sixth consecutive decision, his longest winning streak since starting the 1986 season at 14-0. He gave up nine hits, including a two-run homer by rookie Beau Allred, walked three and struck out eight in seven innings. He improved to 13-2 lifetime against Cleveland.

“Everything that happened last week took a lot out of me,” Clemens said. “I think I paid the price for last Sunday when I threw 150 pitches. But the guys really picked me up.”

The Red Sox, who have a 2 1/2-game over Toronto and Milwaukee in the East, won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Last Saturday, the teams exchanged angry words after Cleveland’s Doug Jones threw a brushback pitch at Tony Pena. Clemens retaliated by hitting Jefferson in the elbow Sunday.

Toronto 11, Milwaukee 5--George Bell homered twice and drove in six runs to lead the Blue Jays at Milwaukee.

Bell’s fourth home run in five games, a three-run shot in the eighth inning, put Toronto ahead, 7-5. He hit a two-run homer in the first inning and had a run-scoring grounder in the ninth.

Chicago 3, Minnesota 2--Ron Kittle’s 442-foot homer broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning and lifted the White Sox past the Twins at Minneapolis.

Kittle, who struck out twice earlier in the game, connected against Juan Berenguer for his ninth homer of the season.

Baltimore 5, New York 4--Jim Leyritz, playing his first big-league game, singled home the tying run with two out in the ninth inning, but made a throwing error in the 10th that resulted in the Yankees’ seventh consecutive loss.

Leyritz was promoted from triple-A Columbus earlier in the day. He helped the Yankees with a pinch-hit single off Gregg Olson in his first major league at-bat, but hurt them with his bases-loaded, one-out error at third base.

The Yankees, with the worst record in the majors at 18-34, are 0-3 under new Manager Stump Merrill. They have lost 12 of their last 13.

Seattle 5-3, Detroit 2-6--Erik Hanson pitched four-hit ball for eight innings as the Mariners ended Detroit’s four-game winning streak in the first game of a doubleheader at Detroit.

In the second game, Mariner reliever Bill Swift hit pinch-hitter Gary Ward to force home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Tigers went on to get a split.

Oakland 3, Kansas City 1--Curt Young combined with three relievers on a five-hitter at Oakland as the Athletics beat nemesis Mark Gubicza.

Gubicza (3-6) fell to 10-5 lifetime against the Athletics. He gave up all three runs on 10 hits in 7 1/3 innings.