AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : James Beats A’s With Nine RBIs

Led by Chris James, the Cleveland Indians used 21 hits, six walks and two errors as they ended their six-game losing streak and stopped Oakland’s team-record 10-game home winning streak Saturday by routing the Athletics, 20-6.

James hit three-run home runs in the first and second innings, had an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run single in the eighth to finish with nine runs batted in. He grounded out in his other at-bat in the sixth, and left the game after the eighth.

There was a small consolation for the Athletics. Mark McGwire hit a home run to end the longest drought of his career.

The Indians’ assault began with James’ three-run home run off rookie Kirk Dressendorfer (2-2).

James broke the Indian record of eight RBIs, set by Earl Averill in 1930 and matched by Pat Seery in 1945 and Bill Glynn in 1954.

The major league record for RBIs is 12 by Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1924. The American League record is 11 by Tony Lazzeri of the New York Yankees in 1936.

“I had a bad pregame batting practice,” James said. “Sometimes you feel great, then you go out and try to do too much and wind up with nothing. Maybe today I just concentrated and let the hands and eyes do the work.

James, who began the day with one home run, five RBIs and a .253 average, raised his career mark to .453 against Oakland.

“I’m going to cherish the moment. I just came from Anaheim, where I had 15 of the worst at-bats I ever had. I felt pretty good when both (Jose) Canseco and McGwire complimented me.”

The last player to drive in nine runs in a game was Eddie Murray in 1985, then with the Baltimore Orioles.

McGwire had played 41 games and batted 129 times since Sept. 21 without a home run until he got one off Eric King (3-2) in the fourth inning.

Boston 4, Chicago 0--The Red Sox pitched a shutout by committee at Chicago to hand the White Sox their fourth defeat in a row.

Four pitchers combined to throw a five-hitter. Tom Bolton (3-0) was the winner, pitching the first 6 2/3 innings and giving up four of the hits.

Jeff Gray bailed Bolton out in the seventh, then Tony Fossas came in to get an out. Bullpen ace Jeff Reardon gave up the last hit in the ninth.

Mike Greenwell hit a two-run double and Tony Pena hit a home run off loser Melido Perez (1-1).

Texas 6, Detroit 5--Bobby Witt struck out 13 batters at Detroit before tiring with two out in the eighth inning and leading, 5-3.

Rich Gossage failed to save the victory for Witt, but he ended up getting the win when Julio Franco hit a tiebreaking home run off Jerry Don Gleaton in the ninth inning.

It was Franco’s third hit of the game and came with two out. Gossage, who gave up a two-run single to Dave Bergman to tie the score, improved to 3-0.

Minnesota 7, Milwaukee 4--Steve Bedrosian finally got his first save for the Twins, but it wasn’t easy.

Mark Guthrie shut out the Brewers for six innings at Minneapolis. Bedrosian took over with a 6-0 lead in the seventh.

After pitching two scoreless innings, Bedrosian gave up four runs in the ninth.

Seattle 3, New York 2--Pete O’Brien had a two-run home run in the second inning and drove in all three runs for the Mariners at Seattle.

There was a near brawl in the first inning. Yankee starter Chuck Cary threw a pitch under Ken Griffey Jr.’s chin. On the next pitch, Griffey swung and the bat sailed toward Cary. The two exchanged words and both dugouts emptied, but there were no punches thrown. Griffey struck out to end the inning.

Kansas City 6, Toronto 5--Bret Saberhagen won for the first time since opening day as the Royals hung on after a rain delay of more than two hours at Kansas City.

The Royals led, 5-0, when rain stopped play in the fourth inning. Saberhagen left after five innings and the Royals’ six-run lead was reduced to one run.