AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Fielder’s Power Surge Continues

Cecil Fielder is finally starting to feel like he is fully recovered from the mental effects of a recent wrist injury.

After hitting a grand slam in Tuesday’s 11-7 victory, Fielder homered twice Wednesday to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 5-1 victory over the slumping Boston Red Sox.

Fielder is hitting just .231 in June, but has a career-high 27 RBI, after a career-worst 13 in May.

“It really wasn’t the wrist itself, but a mental problem,” Fielder said. “I was trying to compensate for not feeling 100 percent, and I was jumping at the ball, and pulling my head. Now, I’m hoping I can break the bad habits.”

Fielder is still hitting just .225, but that doesn’t worry manager Sparky Anderson, as long as Fielder keeps driving in runs.

“I’m never concerned about his batting average, or anyone else’s for that matter,” Anderson said. “All that matters is when you do it.”

The loss extended Boston’s losing streak to seven games, and finished the Red Sox road trip at 0-6.

“Anytime you lose six in a row on the road, it is tough,” Boston manager Butch Hobson said. “We’ll be fine, though. We just need to get home, spend some time with our families, and get going again.”

Frank Tanana (6-5) allowed just one run in eight innings on seven hits, three of them by Tony Pena. He walked two and struck out three. Loser Mark Gardiner (3-8), allowed all five runs on nine hits and two walks.

“He didn’t pitch bad, except for the first pitch to Fielder,” Hobson said. “Even the second one was a good pitch, but that’s why he hit 51 homers a couple years ago.”

Detroit scored two runs in the second when Fielder led off with his 15th homer into the upper deck in left field. Then, with one out, Scott Livingstone walked, took third on Chad Kreuter’s single, and scored on Shawn Hare’s sacrifice fly.

Detroit made it 3-0 in the fourth on Milt Cuyler’s RBI single, but the Red Sox got on the board on a hit batsman, a single by Pena and Jody Reed’s sacrifice fly. Bob Zupcic then doubled to center but Travis Fryman’s relay throw cut down Pena at the plate.

“I didn’t want to dive, because if I didn’t catch it, we’d have no shot at the plate,” Cuyler said. “I didn’t make a great throw, and Travis’ throw was hard but off-line, so Chad made a great play to dive into the runner and make the tag.”

Fielder then hit his second homer, a two-run shot that gave him 60 RBIs for the year.

“My team has given me a lot of RBI chances,” Fielder said. “When I come up with first and third and one out, I’d be disappointed if I didn’t drive in a run.”

Boston lost centerfielder Ellis Burks in the fourth inning to a strained back muscle. Burks had to be carried off the field on a golf cart, and was in considerable pain after the game.

Burks was taken to Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital for X-rays, and will be re-evaluated in Boston.

Oakland 7, Seattle 2--Rickey Henderson, once again the subject of controversy, doubled twice and scored twice and the Athletics swept a three-game series at Oakland.

Stewart (7-5) limited the Mariners to four hits over eight innings as the Mariners lost their fifth straight and 10th straight at the Oakland Coliseum. He struck out eight and walked two for his fourth straight victory. Rich Gossage pitched the ninth.

The A’s beat rookie Dave Fleming (10-3) who was bidding to become the AL’s first 11-game winner. Fleming allowed six runs on nine hits over five innings.

Henderson, who said before the game that his Tuesday night demand to be traded was a joke, doubled in the first, moved to third on a sacrifice and came home on Mark McGwire’s single. After a walk to Terry Steinbach, Harold Baines had a run-scoring single, his eighth RBI in two days.

Henderson doubled again in the fourth to score Lance Blankenship, who had singled. He stole third and Jose Canseco lined a single to right to bring Henderson home for a 4-0 lead.

Oakland scored two more runs in the fifth when Seattle third baseman Tino Martinez booted a Blankenship ground ball and then hurried his throw to first, which sailed wide of Pete O’Brien. Blankenship wound up on third and Steinbach and Jerry Browne, who had singled, both scored on the double error.

Jose Canseco’s 15th homer put Oakland up 7-0 in the sixth. He drove reliever Mark Grant’s 1-1 offering into the left field bleachers.

Jay Buhner hit his eighth home run in the seventh for Seattle. Dave Valle singled home the other Mariner run in the ninth.