AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Twins’ Mahomes, 21, Stops Blue Jays, 7-1

It was expected that John Smiley, Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani would be the stars of the Minnesota Twins’ pitching staff this season.

After all, Smiley and Erickson were 20-game winners last season and Tapani won 16.

They are a combined 8-10 this season.

But given the way that Pat Mahomes is performing, the Twins can be patient with the veterans.

Mahomes, 21, gave up four hits in seven innings Tuesday night at Toronto and the Twins beat the slumping Blue Jays, 7-1.

It was the Twins’ fourth victory in a row and ninth in 10 games. The Blue Jays have lost five in a row.

Mahomes (3-1) struck out five and walked three.

Chuck Knoblauch, who scored two runs and drove in another, led off the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to get the Twins off to a fast start.

Dave Stieb (2-4) gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings. The Twins put it away with four in the ninth, two on Kirby Puckett’s double.

Mahomes had walked 20 in 26 2/3 innings before this game.

“He’s still walked a few too many,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said. “But seven innings and a 3-1 lead--not bad for a 21-year-old kid facing the Toronto Blue Jays. And he didn’t even have to use his changeup.”

Tom Edens pitched the last two innings to become the first Twin other than Rick Aguilera to get a save this season.

Detroit 3, Milwaukee 0--Frank Tanana held the Brewers to two hits in 6 1/3 innings and the Tigers ended a six-game losing streak.

Tanana, 38, sent to the bullpen after several poor outings, walked five and struck out five and improved to 3-3.

Tanana now has 2,586 strikeouts, moving past Bob Feller and Warren Spahn into 14th place on the all-time list.

Cecil Fielder, fighting his worst slump in three years, singled in two runs during the third inning. He also had another single to increase his average to .202.

“I’m not going to toot my own horn,” Tanana said. “That’s not my style. But I feel I’ve got a lot of good pitching left in me. I just want the chance to prove it.”

Manager Sparky Anderson was impressed.

“Frank did the job,” he said. “Frank gets another start now, or you better shoot me.”

Texas 8, Cleveland 7--The Rangers can’t win for losing at home, but on the road, they are able to overcome all sorts of problems.

At Cleveland, they had to battle back after Mark Whiten hit his first major league grand slam to give the Indians a 7-3 lead during the seventh inning.

The Rangers pulled to 7-5 and went ahead in the ninth when Ruben Sierra hit a two-run home run to tie the score and Dean Palmer singled home the winning run.

It was the third victory in a row for the Rangers, who are 5-12 at home, but 16-8 on the road. The Indians have lost nine of their last 10 games.

Boston 7, Seattle 5--In another wild game at Boston, the Red Sox’s Tony Pena scored the go-ahead run during the seventh on Calvin Jones’ wild pitch and Wade Boggs drove in another run with a sacrifice fly.

Although the Mariners took a 3-0 lead during the third inning, they lost their ninth straight against the Red Sox.

Jeff Reardon came in to get the final out for his 336th save. He is only five saves behind Rollie Fingers, the all-time leader.

Boggs, who reached 2,000 hits Sunday in his 11th season, had two hits.

Oakland 5, Baltimore 3--Jose Canseco ended his home run drought at Baltimore and helped Joe Slusarski improve to 4-1.

Canseco had gone 96 at-bats with one home run until he connected against Storm Davis leading off the seventh.

Slusarski gave up two runs and three hits in five innings. Dennis Eckersley, the fourth reliever, retired the last three batters for his 15th save.

The game was delayed 20 minutes during the third inning when a bank of lights went out.

Glenn Davis hit his first home run of the season for the Orioles.

Despite losing three in a row for the first time this season, the Orioles remain atop the East.

Chicago 2, Kansas City 1--Charlie Hough and two relievers combined on a six-hitter at Chicago, and the White Sox ended Kevin Appier’s three-game winning streak.

Hough (1-1) won for the first time this season in his fifth start. He won his 196th, giving up six singles in 6 2/3 innings.

Robin Ventura’s sacrifice fly during the first and Craig Grebeck’s single during the second drove in the two runs against Appier, who went the distance, giving up five hits. Appier (3-3) has an earned-run average of 1.70.