AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Eldred Completely Dominates Orioles

Pitching shutout innings is nothing new for rookie Cal Eldred.

But for the first time, he got to put the finishing touches on a game he started.

Eldred won his seventh consecutive start, striking out a career-high 12 in his first complete game, as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1, Sunday at Baltimore.

Eldred (8-1) gave up four hits and walked one in lowering his earned-run average to 1.26 after 10 starts. He had pitched 23 consecutive shutout innings until Tim Hulett led off the eighth with a triple and scored on a groundout by Bill Ripken. Eldred has given up only three runs in his last 53 2/3 innings. “It gave the bullpen a day of rest and we have four tough games coming up against Boston,” said Eldred, whose previous long effort was eight innings. “All the personal things are secondary to us right now.”

Milwaukee got all the offense it needed in the second inning on singles by Greg Vaughn and Kevin Seitzer, a run-scoring double by Dave Nilsson and Scott Fletcher’s run-scoring groundout.

Ben McDonald (12-11) gave up two runs in 6 1/33 innings and fell to 0-4 in his last six starts.

Oakland 3, Seattle 1--Bob Welch, in his first start since his return from the disabled list, and Kelly Downs held the Mariners hitless until Harold Reynolds singled with one out in the ninth inning at Oakland.

The Athletics extended their win streak to six games and sent the Mariners to their 11th consecutive loss. The A’s are 10-0 this season against the Mariners.

Welch pitched four innings and left after throwing 46 pitches. Downs (5-5) pitched 4 1/3 innings and struck out six. Downs left after Reynolds lined a clean single to center field. Jeff Russell finished for his 29th save, his first for the A’s.

Cleveland 2, Chicago 1--Kenny Lofton singled, stole his league-leading 54th base and scored on a single by Felix Fermin in the 13th inning as the Indians completed a three-game sweep at Chicago.

Eric Plunk (8-3) earned the victory and Steve Olin pitched the 13th to earn his 25th save.

Jack McDowell, seeking his 21st victory, left after nine innings. He gave up six hits, one walk and had a season-high nine strikeouts.

Toronto 7, Texas 2--John Olerud and Turner Ward homered at Arlington, Tex., to help the Blue Jays spoil Kevin Brown’s first bid for his 20th victory.

The Blue Jays, who have won eight of 10, opened a five-game lead in the AL East over Baltimore, its largest lead since July 23.

Brown (19-9), who pitched 7 2/3 innings, gave up a run-scoring double to Olerud in the first, then allowed Olerud’s three-run homer in the seventh. It was Olerud’s 13th home run.

Brown gave up five runs, 10 hits and three walks. He is trying to join Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins as the only Rangers pitcher to win 20 games in a season.

Jimmy Key (10-13) pitched six innings. Duane Ward pitched two innings for his 11th save.

Kansas City 3, New York 0--Dennis Rasmussen, released by two organizations this season, pitched seven shutout innings at New York in his Royals debut.

Rasmussen (1-0) was cut by the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore’s triple-A Rochester team this year, going a combined 0-7 for those clubs. He also missed part of the season with tendinitis in his left shoulder before signing with the Royals on Thursday.

Rasmussen gave up six hits, walked two and struck out one for his first victory in the majors since last Sept. 10 with San Diego. He also has pitched for Cincinnati and the Yankees during the previous five years. Jeff Montgomery pitched the final two innings for his career-high 34th save.

Detroit 7, Boston 2--Travis Fryman drove in three runs and the Tigers took advantage of several Red Sox defensive lapses at Boston.