AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Bell’s 5 Hits Break Silence, Toronto Wins

George Bell’s eyes were fine, but his mouth wasn’t working.

Bell, who complained about blurred vision last month, went five for five Monday night at Milwaukee and helped the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-5.

The Blue Jays increased their American League East lead to 1 1/2 games over idle Boston.

“I don’t like to talk about a game, that’s all,” Bell said, refusing to discuss the second five-for-five game of his career.

Bell, whose eye problem was caused by a buildup of fluid around the retina in his right eye, was in an 11-for-65 slump, including 0 for 13 in his previous three games.

Manager Cito Gaston did the talking for Bell.

“I guess that answered one of the questions of whether George can see or not,” Gaston said. “I guess he put a stop to the fact that a lot of people thought he wasn’t seeing well.

“I’ve seen George go through streaks before where he’s pulling off the ball. Tonight he was a little more patient and got balls he could handle. I wasn’t worried about it. I just hoped he’d come around and stay hot the rest of the week and right through to October.”

Bell had two doubles and three singles and rookie Mark Whiten drove in two runs with a homer and an infield out for Toronto.

Jimmy Key (12-7) pitched seven solid innings for the Blue Jays, who are 16-6 in September and have eight games remaining, all on the road. The Red Sox have nine games left, eight at home, including three games with Toronto this weekend.

Key (12-7) won his third consecutive decision, yielding three runs and seven hits in seven innings, including Dale Sveum’s first home run in two years. Tom Henke went 1 1/3 innings for his 31st save as the Brewers lost their seventh in a row.

Toronto had a 3-0 lead when Bell knocked out Milwaukee starter Jaime Navarro (7-7) with a two-run double in the fifth.

Kansas City 10, Oakland 3-- Kurt Stillwell drove in four runs with a double and an inside-the-park home run at Kansas City, and the Royals kept the Athletics from moving closer to clinching the West title.

Oakland’s lead over the second-place Chicago White Sox is eight games with nine remaining. The A’s magic number is two.

Kansas City’s George Brett, the AL batting leader, was hitless in three at-bats and is hitting .330. Oakland’s Rickey Henderson, third in the race, was one for four and stands at .320.

Kansas City’s Tom Gordon (12-11) scattered five hits and survived six walks in 6 2/3 innings.

A’s starter Curt Young (9-6) had a 1-0 lead until the Royals took control with six runs in the fifth inning.

Mark McGwire doubled and scored Oakland’s first run in the second and singled home two more in the seventh.

Baltimore 6, New York 3--Cal Ripken led off the 10th inning with his 19th home run, Billy Ripken added a two-run double and the Orioles extended their winning streak to six games by downing the Yankees at New York.