AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : White Sox Sweep Yankees With 11th Consecutive Road Victory

The Chicago White Sox have stayed in the race with the world champion Oakland Athletics in the American League West largely because they have made themselves at home on the road.

This is especially true of their weekend visit to New York. They hated to leave Yankee Stadium.

Sammy Sosa’s two-run bloop single highlighted a five-run sixth inning Sunday as the White Sox beat the Yankees, 8-5, to sweep the four-game series.

The White Sox, with the best road record in baseball (25-10) have now won 11 consecutive road games and remain just a game behind the Athletics.

The White Sox finished the season with a 10-2 record against the worst team in the league, one of the wins was when Yankee Andy Hawkins no-hit them. The last time the Sox swept four in New York was 26 years ago.

“It never seems to be easy, though,” Manager Jeff Torborg said. “We just do a fine job of coming from behind. We better be able to win on the road, because we still have 46 games left away from home.”

A key to the White Sox success is bullpen ace Bobby Thigpen. He has saves in the last three games and has 30 in 42 appearances.

“I think getting in three or four times a week is really helping me,” said the right-hander who will be 27 Tuesday and celebrated by pitching a perfect inning in the All-Star game. “Last year, we didn’t win as much and I didn’t see as much action. I tend to get too strong. Then, I overthrow.”

In the three games, Thigpen faced just 10 batters, struck out two of them and gave up a single.

Oakland 4, Milwaukee 1--Right fielder Felix Jose often feels overwhelmed in the company of Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and other members of the A’s.

Then, there are occasions, such as this one at Oakland, that Jose is the standout.

In the top of the first, Jose’s leaping catch robbed Robin Yount of a three-run home run. In the home half, he came up with the bases loaded and hit his sixth homer.

“You talk about a sensational inning,” Manager Tom Trebelhorn of the Brewers said. “The home run was even bigger than the catch. How often can a player account for a seven-run swing?”

To top off his performance, Jose threw out Dave Parker at the plate trying to score from second on a single in the fourth inning.

He actually caught Yount’s drive twice. His glove was six inches above the fence when it hit in the pocket and popped out as he hit the fence. He reached out with his barehand and grabbed the ball before falling to the ground.

“I’ve never hit a grand slam,” Jose said. “For that matter, I can’t remember making a catch like that, either. The throw was pretty good, too.”

Jose enabled Curt Young (5-3) to run his lifetime record against Milwaukee to 6-0. He gave up seven hits and a run in eight innings in his fourth consecutive strong outing.

The A’s put third baseman Carney Lansford, who has a strained right hamstring, on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to July 12 and recalled outfielder Doug Jennings and infielder Lance Blankenship from triple-A Tacoma.

To make room on the roster, the A’s released right-hander Mike Norris, 35, who was attempting a comeback after a six-year absence from the major leagues. Norris was 1-0 with a 3.00 earned-run average in of 14 games.

Norris began his career with Oakland in 1975. His best season was in 1980, when he went 22-9 with a 2.54 ERA. Drug problems forced him out of baseball throughout most of the ‘80s.

Seattle 7, Cleveland 0--Bill Swift, in his first start of the season, pitched a brilliant eight innings at Seattle to end the Indians’ three-game winning streak.

Swift (3-2) gave up just three hits. With Ken Griffey Jr. and Tracy Jones hitting home runs, it was an easy victory.

Kansas City 13, Boston 4--The Royals teed off on the Red Sox pitching staff at Boston. But, because the Angels beat Toronto, the Red Sox didn’t fall out of first in the East.

Gerald Perry, who set a club record with seven hits in Saturday’s doubleheader, had two more hits and three stolen bases. Kurt Stillwell, George Brett, Pat Tabler and Sam Pecota each drove in two runs.

In winning three out of four, the Royals outscored the Red Sox, 27-16, and outhit them, 57-39.

Detroit 3, Texas 2--Mike Heath hit a two-run home run at Detroit and the Tigers presented Sparky Anderson with his 1,800th win as a manager. Only nine other managers have won more.

Minnesota 10, Baltimore 3--Kirby Puckett hit two home runs and drove in five runs at Baltimore and made it easy for Allan Anderson to win for the first time in three months.

Anderson (3-12), who won 17 games last season, had failed to win in 12 starts since May 14.

Anderson gave up six hits in seven innings before giving way to Jack Savage. The Twins provided Anderson with eight runs in the first three innings.