AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : White Sox Give Fernandez Some Help and His First Victory, 5-3

The White Sox bullpen gave rookie starter Alex Fernandez an assist in Chicago’s 5-3 victory Tuesday night at Kansas City.

Fernandez had that coming.

Last Thursday, in his major league debut, he gave up only two runs in seven innings and led, 3-2, but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead and deprived Fernandez of the victory.

This time, Fernandez (1-0) went six innings, giving up three runs, and the bullpen came up with the save in a 5-3 victory over the Royals.

Sammy Sosa and Scott Fletcher each drove in two runs for the White Sox, who came back from a 2-0 deficit to win for the sixth time in their last seven games.

“This club has character, the ability to bounce back,” White Sox Manager Jeff Torborg said. “Our young pitchers have come through for us.

“What everyone said about Fernandez is true. He has poise, composure, instincts. He’s got all it takes to be a winner.”

Fernandez hasn’t wasted much time in his career. In 1989, he felt he was ready for the majors when he had 15 victories for the University of Miami. In order to be eligible for this June’s draft, Fernandez transferred to a junior college.

The White Sox made him their No. 1 choice. After a brief stint in the minors, he appears to be ready to lend a hand in Chicago’s stretch drive.

“I didn’t have my best stuff,” the 20-year-old right-hander said. “I went out there and battled every pitch. On nights like this that’s all you can do. My job was to keep us in it.”

The Royals’ Brian McRae, whose father, Hal, was a longtime favorite in Kansas City, made an auspicious major league debut against Fernandez.

A crowd of 27,240 gave the rookie McRae a standing ovation when he tripled in his first at-bat in the second inning. He also singled in the sixth.

Oakland 3, Baltimore 2--There was a power outage that lasted for 18 minutes at Oakland after both teams scored twice in the first inning. When the electricity came on, power outage at the plate lasted for the rest of the game.

Bob Welch and John Mitchell were in charge most of the way. Welch became the major league’s first 18-game winner when Walt Weiss singled home Ron Hassey to break the tie in the seventh.

Welch, who has lost four, gave up seven hits in seven innings, settling down after giving up two runs in the first inning on a double by Sam Horn.

“We had some opportunities early to do Welch in, but he wouldn’t allow us to. He pitched from here,” said Oriole Manager Frank Robinson, pointing to his heart.

Dennis Eckersley got the last four outs for his 36th save and kept the A’s three games ahead of Chicago.

Toronto 11, Detroit 5--The Blue Jays were relying on Jimmy Key to have a good season. If he had, they probably would be leading the East instead of chasing Boston.

But Key has had arm problems and has not been consistent. In this game at Toronto, he was almost unhittable through seven innings. By the time he weakened, the Blue Jays had given him a big lead.

Key (7-5) lost his shutout in the eighth. In the ninth, Alan Trammell, Cecil Fielder and Gary Ward opened with consecutive home runs. For Fielder, it was his 35th.

Detroit starter Jack Morris (9-14) before he could get anyone out in the fourth. He gave up seven hits and eight runs.

Cleveland 8, Texas 4--Three errors by the Rangers’ infield enabled the Indians to stay close at Cleveland and they scored four in the eighth to break it open.

Brook Jacoby, Sandy Alomar and Alex Cole hit run-scoring doubles in the big inning. The Indians had six doubles, two by Cole.

Reliever Colby Ward faced only one batter in the eighth and struck him out to earn his first major league victory.

Ruben Sierra doubled in the second inning to stretch his hitting streak to 14 games, then hit a two-run home run in the fourth for the Rangers.

New York 3, Seattle 1--Former Angel pitcher Mike Witt, hampered by injuries most of the season, earned his first victory as a Yankee with an impressive performance at Seattle.

Witt (1-4) limited Seattle to four hits in six innings in his sixth start this season and 16th appearance.

Kevin Maas continued his home run spree, hitting a 448-foot shot. It was his 12th homer in 94 at-bats since joining the Yankees.

Milwaukee 5, Minnesota 3--Jaime Navarro (3-3) pitched six perfect innings at Minneapolis, then blew a 3-0 lead in the seventh. Robin Yount drove in the go-ahead run with a tie-breaking double in the eighth.

Until the seventh, the Twins had gone 24 innings without scoring. Then, Nelson Liriano got an infield hit and Randy Bush hit a home run.