AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Quick Exit Aids Blue Jays, 4-2

The Tigers, with a chance to cut Toronto’s lead in the American League East to one game, sent their best pitcher, Bill Gullickson, against the Blue Jays Sunday at Detroit.

But the right-hander, a 15-game winner, threw only five pitches. Two were hit for home runs, and the fifth hit Joe Carter in the helmet.

The incident produced a near free-for-all, and Gullickson was ejected. Both benches emptied, but no punches were thrown.

The Tigers, who have scored runs in bunches for Gullickson, took him off the hook but lost, 4-2, dropping three games behind Toronto.

Kelly Gruber doubled in the tie-breaking run in the sixth inning before the largest Tiger Stadium crowd of the season, 48,742.

Tom Henke struck out the side in the ninth for his 28th save after Tom Candiotti gave up three hits in seven innings. The Blue Jays won the season series, 7-6.

The Blue Jays arrived for the three-game series in a slump. They had won only one of their previous seven games, then proceeded to lose Friday night.

With Tiger power hitters Cecil Fielder, Mickey Tettleton and Rob Deer failing to hit, the Blue Jays regained their composure and won the last two.

Fielder, tied for the major league lead in home runs (34) and the leader in runs batted in (101), was hitless in nine at-bats during the series and drove in only one run.

Devon White hit Gullickson’s second pitch for his ninth home run, and Roberto Alomar hit the next one for his sixth. The first pitch to Carter was a ball, and the next one hit him in the helmet. Carter started for the mound but was restrained by catcher Tettleton and a fight was averted.

“You can say my response was weak,” Carter said. “But he (Gullickson) got himself thrown out of an important game. I took a step and stopped. After I took the step, I thought about a three-game suspension. That wouldn’t help the team.”

Minnesota 6, Oakland 4--For the third game in a row, the Athletics built an early lead. This time it was 4-1 going into the seventh inning at Minneapolis with Dave Stewart pitching. But Oakland lost all three games and trails the surprising Twins by seven games with 42 games left.

The Twins cut the lead to 4-3 and chased Stewart in the seventh. In the eighth, Chili Davis singled, Brian Harper tripled and Shane Mack singled to give them the lead.

It was the A’s seventh loss in a row.

Chicago 11, New York 3--Frank Thomas brought the White Sox out of a mild slump in New York.

Thomas hit a three-run home run to cap a seven-run second inning at New York, and the White Sox ended a three-game losing streak with only their second victory in eight games.

Thomas, who has 24 home runs, also singled in a run, increased his average to .319 and his RBI total to 93.

The early rally made it easy for Greg Hibbard (8-9) to pitch a complete game.

Boston 5, Kansas City 1--Fenway Park is supposed to be a problem for left-handed pitchers because of the proximity of the high wall in left.

Rookie Kevin Morton doesn’t buy it. With Jack Clark hitting his 21st home run and driving in three runs, Morton improved to 3-2. Morton gave up seven hits and struck out five in 7 2/3 innings.

“John Tudor, Bruce Hurst and others have proved a good left-hander can win here,” Morton said. “I hope to be around a long time to prove I can, too.”

The Red Sox’s ninth victory in 11 games left them 5 1/2 games behind Toronto.

Texas 9, Cleveland 4--Juan Gonzalez hit his first grand slam and Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run homer at Cleveland as the Rangers won their second in a row. The Indians have lost six of seven.

Milwaukee 2, Baltimore 1--Bill Spiers hit a go-ahead double in the eighth inning at Milwaukee and the Brewers completed a sweep of the three-game series. Spiers has hit safely in a personal-best 13 consecutive games.

Bill Wegman (8-6) gave up eight hits in eight innings. One of them was Cal Ripken’s 26th home run.