AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Carter, Gruber and Borders Keep Blue Jays Thriving With Power Surge

With Devon White and Roberto Alomar at the top of the lineup, the Toronto Blue Jays have the speed to manufacture runs.

The Blue Jays, however, have recently taken to relying almost exclusively on the home run.

Joe Carter hit a two-run homer and Kelly Gruber and Pat Borders added solo shots as the Blue Jays beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4, Tuesday night at Toronto.

The Blue Jays have 13 home runs in five games. They have 46 homers to rank third in the AL East behind Detroit and New York.

“It’s not like anybody on this team is trying to hit them,” Carter said. “It’s just a case of making good contact and taking advantage of a pitcher’s mistakes.”

Ricky Bones (1-2) made his first mistake three batters into the game when he hung a changeup to Carter, who turned into his ninth homer. It scored White, who started the inning with a single.

After Dave Winfield grounded out, Gruber hit his eighth homer.

“Last year, we got homers from me, and that was about it,” Carter said. “This year, everybody’s getting in on the act.”

The Blue Jays were leading, 4-0, when Borders led off the fifth with his fifth homer.

Dave Stieb (3-4) allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings. Tom Henke pitched the ninth, giving up Darryl Hamilton’s solo home run with two outs, for his seventh save.

Blue Jay first baseman John Olerud sustained a dislocated fracture to his nose during batting practice when a ball hit him.

Detroit 8, Kansas City 1--Bill Gullickson needed only 83 pitches to win his sixth consecutive decision as the Tigers cruised at Detroit.

Gullickson (6-2) pitched a six-hitter for his third complete game. He had no walks or strikeouts and retired 17 of the final 19 batters.

Rob Deer hit his 14th homer, a two-run shot in the seventh inning. Mark Carreon hit a three-run homer, his fifth, in the eighth. Both home runs came against reliever Tom Gordon.

Hipolito Pichardo (1-2) took the loss.

New York 5, Minnesota 4--Mel Hall broke out of a one-for-24 slump with a triple and two doubles to lead the Yankees at Minneapolis.

The Yankees had eight extra-base hits.

Tim Leary (4-3) allowed six hits, five walks and four runs in 7 1/3 innings. Steve Howe earned his sixth save for the Yankees, who had been 0-6 at the Metrodome since July 22, 1990.

Pat Mahomes (3-2), a 21-year-old rookie coming off his best major league outing, gave up nine hits in 2 2/3 innings for the Twins.

Texas 6, Chicago 5--Dean Palmer and Ivan Rodriguez hit solo home runs at Arlington, Tex., as the Rangers won for the eighth time in nine games.

Jose Guzman (4-3) pitched seven innings and struck out five, including George Bell four times. He improved to 6-2 lifetime against the White Sox.

Edwin Nunez, acquired Monday in a trade with Milwaukee, earned his first save.

Charlie Hough (1-2) lost in only his second start since May 7. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings against his former team, giving up four runs and five hits.

Palmer hit his seventh home run, his first since May 1, in the third. Rodriguez led off the fourth with his fifth home run.

Lance Johnson homered for the White Sox.

Cleveland 1, Oakland 0--Dave Otto came off the disabled list to pitch six strong innings and Mark Lewis hit his third homer for the Indians at Oakland.

Otto (3-3), shelled for 10 runs in five innings in his last outing May 9 against Minnesota, had spent the past two weeks recovering from tendinitis of the left shoulder. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five against the A’s.

Eric Plunk retired all seven batters he faced, Kevin Wickander got one out and Steve Olin got the last out for his eighth save.

A day after the Indians beat the A’s, 10-6, Lewis’ home run in the fifth against Bob Welch (2-3) accounted for the only run.

Welch left in the seventh inning with a twisted left knee.

Baltimore 13, Seattle 8--Glenn Davis hit two home runs to lead the Orioles at Seattle.

Davis had one homer in 44 at-bats before Tuesday. His two homers helped the Orioles take a 10-0 lead in the fourth inning.

Brady Anderson drove in three runs and Chito Martinez hit a solo homer for the Orioles.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit a three-run homer for the Mariners.