AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Brunansky Enjoying Life at Fenway

Tom Brunansky began a string of seasons in which he hit 20 or more home runs in 1982 with Minnesota. He did it five more seasons with the Twins, then continued his success in St. Louis’ spacious Busch Stadium for two seasons.

Early last season he joined the Boston Red Sox. It meant he would be playing half his games in Fenway Park, a paradise for right-handed hitters.

So, what happened? The streak ended as Brunansky hit only 16 homers, 15 for the Red Sox. But he showed a real fondness for Fenway; 13 of those homers came at home, where his slugging percentage was .603.

This season, the 33-year-old slugger is still playing well in Boston.

Brunansky hit a two-run home run and drove in another run Wednesday at Boston to help make Danny Darwin’s return a success and lead the Red Sox to a 4-0 victory over Milwaukee.

Darwin, out a month with a pulled muscle in his right shoulder, pitched five shutout innings and improved his record to 2-1.

Brunansky, who hit a three-run home run Tuesday night, has hit eight home runs, six over the cozy Green Monster in left. He has driven in 30 runs.

Texas 5, Minnesota 2--They had to work a little extra at Minneapolis, but the surprising Rangers stretched their winning streak to nine.

Juan Gonzalez singled in two runs to highlight a three-run 12th inning that moved the Rangers within half a game of first-place Oakland in the West.

Oakland 2, Toronto 1--Dave Stieb figured a knockdown cost him his duel with Mike Moore (6-2) at Oakland.

The Athletics scored both runs in the first inning. The first scored on Jose Canseco’s double after a single by Rickey Henderson. The second came when umpire Durwood Merrill ruled Stieb failed to complete the inning-ending double play because he dropped the ball.

“I dropped it, well after I crossed first base when (Ernest) Riles kneed me in the head and knocked me down on the outfield side of first base,” Stieb said. “It was a brutal call, and we lost the game because of it.”

Moore gave up only four hits in 7 2/3 innings. He departed with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth. Dennis Eckersley struck out Joe Carter to end the threat and pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save.

New York 8, Cleveland 1--Pat Kelly, the rookie second baseman whose promotion led to the moving of Steve Sax to third base, drove in two runs with his first major league hit.

The Yankees had scored only five runs in six previous games, but they made this one an easy victory for Tim Leary (3-3).

Sax had a rocky night at third. Three times he forced first baseman Don Mattingly to make tough catches and once he threw the ball over Mattingly’s head.

Detroit 9, Baltimore 5--Cecil Fielder had two home runs at Detroit, two of them in a six-run second inning. Fielder has eight homers.

Kansas City 3, Seattle 1--Tom Gordon pitched a four-hitter at Kansas City and took over the AL earned-run average lead in the first game after Manager John Wathan was fired.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-out home run in the ninth to spoil the shutout for Gordon, whose ERA dropped to 1.38.