AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Romine, Red Sox Go to Wall to Beat Rangers, 3-2

The wind was blowing in at Fenway Park, especially the way Nolan Ryan and Mike Boddicker were pitching.

Ryan and Boddicker blew hitters away until Kevin Romine hit a home run off reliever Kenny Rogers in the ninth inning Monday to give the Boston Red Sox a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.

“I thought the home run would be the last thing that would beat you today with the wind blowing in,” Texas Manager Bobby Valentine said.

Boddicker (11-3) gave up 10 hits but earned his 10th consecutive victory with nine strikeouts and three walks, beating Texas for the 12th time in 15 decisions.

Ryan failed in a bid for his 297th victory, giving way to Rogers (2-4) after throwing 144 pitches in eight innings.

Romine led off the ninth and hit Rogers’ 3-and-2 pitch into the screen above the Green Monster in left field for his first homer of the season.

“I knew I hit it well, but I didn’t know if I hit well enough,” Romine said after getting only his third homer in 246 games with Boston since 1985.

Ryan gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out seven, becoming the only pitcher with 100 or more strikeouts in 22 seasons, one more than Don Sutton. Ryan is second in the American League with 104 strikeouts, eight behind the Angels’ Mark Langston.

The 43-year-old right-hander, who has not won in four starts at Boston since May 6, 1977, is 2-8 in his career at Fenway.

“I didn’t have good command,” Ryan said. “I didn’t have good control of the curve and changeup. Other than that I pitched all right.”

Ryan had a 2-1 lead, but the Red Sox tied the score in the seventh when Romine singled and scored on a double by Billy Jo Robidoux--who was just reactivated after shoulder surgery. It was his first hit since April 14.

Chicago 5, Detroit 4--Carlton Fisk’s run-scoring single in the ninth inning lifted the White Sox over the Tigers at Chicago and kept them percentage points ahead of Oakland in the West.

Bobby Thigpen (4-2), who leads the majors with 26 saves but blew one in the eighth inning when the Tigers scored three runs, got the victory as the White Sox won for the 10th time in 11 games.

Barry Jones yielded singles to Alan Trammell, Cecil Fielder, Larry Sheets and Dave Bergman, bringing the Tigers to within 4-3. After Ken Patterson struck out Darnell Coles and John Shelby, Thigpen came on and threw a wild pitch that scored the tying run.

Oakland 3, Toronto 2--Rickey Henderson hit a two-run homer and Mike Moore made it stand up with help from Dennis Eckersley as the Athletics downed the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Moore (6-7) ended a four-game losing streak, giving up four hits in seven innings. Eckersley pitched the final two innings for his 25th save as the Blue Jays lost for the seventh time in eight games.

Henderson’s 14th homer, a blast to left field in the second inning, gave the A’s a 3-0 lead after Mark McGwire hit a sacrifice fly in the first off Jimmy Key (4-4).

Kansas City 11, New York 5--George Brett had four hits, drove in one run and scored two, and the Royals got five unearned runs to beat the Yankees at Kansas City.

Gerald Perry homered for Kansas City and rookie Kevin Appier (3-3) went six innings to beat the Yankees for the second time this season.

Matt Nokes homered for New York, which played without Don Mattingly, who had back spasms. He is listed day-to-day.