AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Orioles Keep Hope Alive in East

Mike Devereaux, who popped out with the bases loaded to seal a loss the night before, hit a three-run double in the third inning Wednesday night to lead the Orioles to a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore.

The Orioles foiled Jack Morris’ bid for his 20th victory and closed within five games of the East-leading Blue Jays, whose magic number remained at seven. Morris (19-6) gave up seven hits and three walks in his sixth complete game and lost for the first time since Aug. 11.

Arthur Rhodes pitched four-hit ball over 8 1/3 innings as the Orioles kept alive their faint pennant hopes by winning for only the sixth time in 16 games. Gregg Olson finished for his 34th save in 41 chances.

Baltimore went ahead in the third on Devereaux’s double off the left-field wall. After failing to come through in Tuesday’s 4-3 loss, he is 13 for 24 with 38 runs batted in this season with the bases loaded.

“You can look at it this way: Would I have rather have gotten the hit yesterday and not today?” Devereaux said. “There’s no way anyone can hit 1.000 in that situation.”

“Getting a win tonight definitely takes some of the sting out of last night’s loss,” Devereaux said. “It would have been great to sweep the Blue Jays, but the next-best thing is winning two out of three, and we can do that.”

The Orioles are a longshot to overtake the Blue Jays, but at least they are in the hunt.

“We’ve still got our backs against the wall but sure, we’re still in it,” Baltimore Manager Johnny Oates said. “Hopefully we can win enough, and they and Milwaukee lose enough so we can at least have a dance at the end.”

Texas 5, Minnesota 3--Kevin Brown became the AL’s second 20-game winner as the Rangers won at Arlington, Tex., and helped Oakland lower its magic number to eliminate the Twins to three.

The Twins remained eight games behind the Athletics.

Brown (20-10), who got his 19th victory on Sept. 8 but failed to win his next two starts, pitched his 11th complete game of the season. He gave up one earned run and 10 hits and struck out nine.

Brown joined Jack McDowell of the White Sox (20-8) and Tom Glavine of Atlanta (20-6) as the only 20-game winners in the majors. Brown also joined Ferguson Jenkins as the only 20-game winners in Ranger history.

Seattle 6, Kansas City 1--The Mariners ended a 12-game road losing streak as Lance Parrish had three hits and Brian Fisher gave up five hits in eight innings at Kansas City, Mo.

George Brett went two for four and needs nine hits in the Royals’ remaining 11 games to reach 3,000.

Chicago 17, Oakland 6--Frank Thomas drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and Ron Karkovice had three hits at Chicago.

Detroit 10, New York 8--Mickey Tettleton and Rob Deer each hit their 30th home runs to lead the Tigers at New York.

It marked the first time in Tiger history that they had three players hit 30 homers. Cecil Fielder has 32.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys swinging hard just in case they hit it,” Tettleton said.

Cleveland 7, Boston 3--Homers by Albert Belle and Glenallen Hill highlighted a five-run fourth inning at Boston to help Charles Nagy win his third consecutive start.