AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Blue Jays Going West in Bid to Win the East

The Toronto Blue Jays completed the first part of their two-fold plan to win the American League East. Now comes the tough part.

The Blue Jays’ plan was to build a commanding lead before playing the tougher teams of the West in the last 23 games of the season.

With Kelly Gruber hitting his 18th home run and driving in five runs Sunday at Cleveland, the Blue Jays completed their four-game sweep of the Indians, 11-5.

It was the Blue Jays’ fifth consecutive victory and extended their lead in the East to 5 1/2 games. They outscored the worst team in the league, 35-11, in the four games and finished the season series with a 12-1 margin.

Not only did the Indians help Toronto widen its lead, they restored the confidence of a couple of Blue Jays who were in miserable slumps--Gruber and David Wells (14-10).

Gruber, struggling at the plate all season, hit his 100th career home run Saturday and was seven for 18 in the series, driving in 10 runs. He increased his average to .251, his high mark for the season.

Toronto, which will be at home against the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics this week, wasn’t eager to leave Cleveland.

“I’d like to stay here and play the rest of the season,” Gruber said. “They’re not playing well. But no series is easy. When we came in here, we had no idea it would be like that.”

Gruber, in a slump after suffering a hand injury in May, has four home runs in the past seven games. He had a two-run single in the first inning.

Wells needed a boost more than any other Blue Jay. After building a 12-3 record and pitching better than any other starter, he went into this game having lost seven of his past eight.

For seven innings against the Indians, Wells pitched the way he did earlier in the season. He held the Indians to three hits and went into the eighth with an 11-0 lead. He tired in the eighth, giving up four hits and four runs.

Minnesota 6, New York 5--Scott Erickson turned in another subpar performance at Minneapolis, but still became the league’s first 18-game winner.

Rookie Pedro Munoz got the winning hit--a three-run homer in the sixth--for the second game in a row, and the Twins stretched their lead in the West to 8 1/2 games.

Erickson (18-6) gave up four runs on eight hits and walked three in six innings.

Erickson is 5-4 with an earned-run average of 6.94 since coming back from a strained elbow.

Oakland 7, Detroit 4--Cecil Fielder regained the major league home run lead with his 39th, but the Tigers slipped into third place.

Harold Baines hit his 19th home run, Dave Stewart got his 11th victory and the Athletics won three out of four at Detroit.

The A’s couldn’t gain on the Twins, but they dropped the Tigers six games behind Toronto in the East with 25 games to play.

Bill Gullickson, trying for his 18th victory, gave up six runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. Stewart, after giving up Fielder’s two-run home run in the first, settled down. Dennis Eckersley got the last five outs for his 39th save.

Boston 17, Seattle 6--With rookie Phil Plantier getting four hits and driving in five runs, the Red Sox had 17 hits at Boston to move into second place in the East.

But the Red Sox’s Wade Boggs, battling for the batting title, didn’t get a hit and his average dropped to .337.

Texas 7, Chicago 6--Monty Farris hit a three-run, pinch double with two out in the ninth inning for the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

A throwing error by second baseman Craig Grebeck and a hit batsman helped the Rangers score against Bobby Thigpen and load the bases for Farris.

Kansas City 3, Baltimore 2--After Danny Tartabull went three for three Saturday night, Oriole Manager Johnny Oates vowed not to pitch to the Royals’ slugger Sunday. But Tartabull singled in the seventh to start the Royals’ rally and doubled to set up the winning run in the ninth at Baltimore.