AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : With Clemens, Red Sox Close on Blue Jays

On Aug. 7 Roger Clemens was beaten by the Kansas City Royals, 2-0. It was his fourth loss in the last five starts and his Boston Red Sox fell to 11 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East.

Clemens’ return to form has coincided with Boston’s dash back into the pennant race.

Clemens (17-8) pitched a three-hitter Friday night at Boston and the surging Red Sox beat the New York Yankees, 2-0, to move within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto lost to Oakland, 6-5, in 11 innings.

Jody Reed drove in both Boston runs off Scott Sanderson and had a single, double and his fifth home run.

“Roger’s at the top of his game and we knew he would need just a little help,” Reed said.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for Clemens, who struck out seven and walked only two while pitching his 11th complete game. The Red Sox have won the last nine games Clemens has started.

“There’s only been a few games when I haven’t pitched well and I’ve been a little sloppy,” said Clemens, who lowered his earned-run average to 2.43. “I don’t think there’s any pressure as far as the pennant race goes. We know what’s ahead and we know what we’ve done in the past.”

The Red Sox have 15 games remaining, so Clemens will get at least three more starts and a shot at his fourth 20-victory season.

Except for Reed, who was leading off in the absence of Wade Boggs, who is still nursing a sore shoulder, Sanderson (15-10) had no problems. He gave up only three other hits in seven innings.

Sanderson went into the game with a 5-0 record against the Red Sox, including three victories and a 1.76 ERA this season.

Oakland 6, Toronto 5--Pinch-hitter Ernest Riles, batting .204, singled with two outs in the 11th inning to give the Athletics the victory at home.

Rickey Henderson led off the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second by Dave Henderson. With two outs, Harold Baines was walked intentionally to bring up Riles, who had been hitless in his previous 17 pinch-hitting appearances.

Riles, batting for Brook Jacoby, lashed a sharp single to right off Duane Ward (7-6), and Henderson beat a weak throw home by Joe Carter.

Dennis Eckersley (5-3) got the victory, pitching the 11th inning and striking out the side.

It was the fourth consecutive extra-inning game for the Blue Jays, one short of Detroit’s major league record of five set in 1908.

Jose Canseco hit a two-run homer in the first inning, his 42nd of the season, to tie Detroit’s Cecil Fielder for the major league lead.

Minnesota 6, Texas 4--Kirby Puckett hit a two-run, two-out single in the eighth inning at Minneapolis to snap a tie. It gave the Twins only their third victory in their last nine games.

The Twins, who were nine games ahead in the West a week ago, remained six games ahead of the charging White Sox who scored a dramatic victory over the Angels.

Third baseman Dean Palmer hit two home runs and drove in three Ranger runs.

The Rangers, who needed to sweep the three-game series to have even an outside chance, fell 10 games behind.

Milwaukee 8, Detroit 5--The East is developing into a two-team race. The Tigers are slowly slipping out of it.

Bill Spiers hit two home runs, one a grand slam, at Detroit to lead the Brewers to the victory. Spiers, who hits in the No. 9 spot, had a career-high five runs batted in.

“I wasn’t looking to hit either one out, especially the ‘slam,’ ” Spiers said. “The best ball I hit all night was an out--a line drive to center.”

Dan Plesac (2-7) gave up a first inning home run to Alan Trammell but went five innings and won for the first time since Aug. 10.

Travis Fryman homered in the sixth inning and he became the fifth Tiger to hit 20 home runs this season.

Baltimore 2, Cleveland 1--Bob Milacki pitched a strong eight innings at Cleveland and rookie Chris Hoiles hit his 11th home run to win it.

Dave Segui singled in a run in the eighth inning off Dave Otto (1-7) to break a scoreless tie.

Milacki gave up five hits before needing help in the ninth after Hoiles gave him a 2-0 lead.

Kansas City 3, Seattle 0--Mike Boddicker pitched a two-hitter for six innings and Brian McRae doubled in two runs in the third inning for the Royals at Seattle.

Boddicker (12-12) outdueled rookie Rich DeLucia (12-11), who lost despite allowing only four hits in eight innings. Boddicker was aided by double plays in the third, fourth and fifth innings.