AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Blue Jays Rally Past Rangers in Opener

Devon White led off the game with a home run and Kelly Gruber homered during a sixth-inning rally that sent the Toronto Blue Jays past the Rangers, 7-5, Friday night in the first game of a doubleheader at Arlington, Tex.

Juan Guzman improved to 14-3 for the Blue Jays despite giving up three runs on eight hits in five innings. Tom Henke earned his 27th save.

“We had a lot of opportunities to score,” Ranger Manager Toby Harrah said. “When you get chances like that, you’ve got to take advantage of them.”

White hit his 15th homer of the season, and his fifth leading off the first inning. His shot off Scott Chiamparino (0-2) gave him 11 leadoff homers in two seasons with the Blue Jays.

Toronto trailed, 3-2, in the sixth before Candy Maldonado singled and Gruber hit his 11th home run. The Blue Jays added two more runs in the inning on run-scoring singles by Manuel Lee and Roberto Alomar.

Gruber singled home a run in the ninth with his third hit of the game.

Rookie Roger Pavlik started the second game for Texas. Dan Smith is scheduled to make his major league debut tonight for the Rangers.

“This is the weekend that we have to take advantage of every game against these young pitchers,” Gruber said. “It has to be the weekend where we put the other teams away.

“But it’s a situation that can work against you because we haven’t faced any of these guys before.”

New York 2, Kansas City 1--If the Royals did not want Danny Tartabull to beat them, they should have gone ahead and walked him. Instead, they pitched to Tartabull with two outs in the eighth inning and first base vacant, and he made them pay with a go-ahead single off Rusty Meacham at New York.

“After he got me 0-and-2, he tried to nibble a little bit to get me to swing at a bad pitch,” Tartabull said.

Kansas City Manager Hal McRae said he was surprised, and upset, with what Meacham threw.

“That last pitch by Meacham, I don’t understand,” he said. “We’ve established we’re not going to let this guy beat us with a base open.

“You can’t lose the game with Tartabull getting a hit in the bottom of the eighth with a base open. Tonight we made a mistake.”

Tartabull has 11 RBIs in the last three games, helping the Yankees win five in a row.

Sterling Hitchcock became the fifth Yankee pitcher to make his major league debut this season. He had a no-decision after giving up six hits in six innings.

Cleveland 5, Chicago 1--Charles Nagy pitched six strong innings and Felix Fermin got four hits to lead the Indians at Chicago.

Nagy (14-10) won for the first time since Aug. 19, after going 0-2 his last three starts. Ted Power and Derek Lilliquist finished with scoreless relief.

“He threw the ball well early,” Chicago Manager Gene Lamont said of Nagy. “His breaking ball was especially sharp tonight. We’ve hit him well all year, except for tonight.”

Cleveland’s Albert Belle stole home for the second time this season, when he sneaked in as part of a delayed double steal.

The White Sox lost for only the third time in 10 games.

Baltimore 3, Milwaukee 2--The Orioles snapped a four-game losing streak as Mike Mussina improved to 15-5 by giving up only two runs and six hits at Baltimore for his fourth consecutive victory.

“Every ballgame from here on out is important for us,” Oriole Manager Johnny Oates said. “We dug a little hole and we can’t afford to let it get any deeper.”

Mussina walked four and struck out eight in his sixth complete game. He retired nine in a row before walking Greg Vaughn in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Dante Bichette popped out to end the game.

“I can’t remember when Mussina has a fastball as good as the one he had tonight,” Oates said. “Tonight, when he had to reach back he had an outstanding fastball, an occasional good changeup and a pretty good curveball.”

The loss dropped the Brewers three games behind the second-place Orioles in the East.

Boston 7, Detroit 6--The Red Sox won the basement battle as Bob Zupcic singled home the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning at Boston.

Detroit squandered a 4-0 lead. Then Boston nearly wasted a 7-4 advantage before surviving a two-on, two-out jam in the ninth when reliever Ken Ryan recorded the final out for his first major league save. He threw a fastball that Dan Gladden popped up with runners at second and third.

“It’s just great to look back and say I helped out a little bit,” said Ryan, who made his third relief appearance since being called up Aug. 31. “It kind of surprised me that he swung at the first pitch.”

The Tigers dropped into last place in the East at 65-77 with their 10th loss in 12 games. The Red Sox and Cleveland Indiana jumped ahead of Detroit at 65-75.

The Tigers had 18 hits, all singles, but left 14 men on base.