AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Blue Jays Have Company at the Top in East

In Detroit they are believing that Sparky Anderson is a miracle man.

In Toronto they are wondering if once again the Blue Jays are going to fold in the stretch.

With 38 games left in the regular schedule, the surprising Tigers and the Blue Jays are tied for first place in the American League East.

Detroit pulled into a tie Saturday when Cecil Fielder hit his major league-leading 36th home run and drove in three runs to lead the Tigers to a 7-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Detroit.

The Blue Jays, who had held sole possession of the division lead since June 23, lost to the New York Yankees, 6-5, at Toronto.

Last season at this time, the Blue Jays had fallen out of first place and were in a slump that was to drop them 6 1/2 games back before Sept. 1. They rallied late and lost out to the Boston Red Sox by two games.

Toronto fans vividly remember 1987, when the Blue Jays went into the final week with a 3 1/2-game lead and blew the division title.

Fielder’s slugging backed another strong performance by Frank Tanana (11-8). The veteran left-hander, whose fastball deserted him more than a decade ago, gave up eight hits in eight innings.

Anderson appears as surprised as anyone by his Tigers, who have the lowest batting average (.243) and highest earned-run average (4.75) in the league.

“If someone had come up to me on opening day and told me that we would be tied for first place Aug. 24, I would have started looking for some nice white jackets for them,” Anderson said.

“I thought I’d be able to sit back and watch the kids from Toledo (the Tigers’ triple-A team) play in September. Now, these guys are going to make me work.”

New York 6, Toronto 5--The Blue Jays aren’t doing anything to make it easier for Manager Cito Gaston to recover from an aching back.

While the manager recovers in a hospital, the Blue Jays have blown a division lead that was eight games July 15.

David Wells, 12-4 after winning July 24, couldn’t hold a 5-3 lead at Toronto and lost his fifth game in a row. He gave up a two-run home run to light-hitting Alvaro Espinoza in the fourth inning, the 10th home run he has yielded in the last five games.

The Yankees, who blew a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning Friday night, scored three times in the sixth, chasing Wells before he could retire a batter.

Hensley Meulens and Espinoza singled before Bob Geren’s double finished Wells. Mike Timlin got two quick outs before Steve Sax hit a two-run single up the middle to put the Yankees ahead to stay.

Greg Cadaret gave up one hit in the last four innings to get the save.

Minnesota 5, Baltimore 2--Dan Gladden’s bases-loaded triple capped a four-run rally in the ninth inning at Baltimore that brought the Twins from behind.

With Chicago and Oakland both losing, the Twins lead the West by seven games with 37 games remaining.

Shane Mack homered for Minnesota’s first run in the seventh, then singled in the tying run in the ninth.

Joe Orsulak of the Orioles singled in the seventh to extend his hitting streak to 20 games.

Kansas City 8, Texas 1--Nolan Ryan, in his second start since coming off the disabled list, retired only five batters before being chased at Arlington, Tex.

Ryan gave up four runs and six hits and fell to 8-6.

Milwaukee 7, Oakland 0--Bill Wegman (9-6) gave up nine hits but won for the first time in the Oakland Coliseum.

Wegman had been 0-5 with an 8.30 ERA at Oakland.

Bill Spiers hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning to give Wegman all the runs he needed.

Cleveland 2, Chicago 1--The White Sox helped Charles Nagy emerge from his slump at Cleveland.

Nagy (7-11), who had an ERA of 11.00 in his previous four starts, struck out six and gave up five hits in eight innings to win for the first time since July 27.

It was the White Sox’s fifth loss in a row.