AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians Keep Morris Searching for Clues

Jack Morris, in his 17th season in the major leagues, never had a streak like this.

The Toronto right-hander gave up eight earned runs and 11 hits in four innings Friday night as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Blue Jays, 13-1, at Cleveland.

Morris, who tied for the major league lead with 21 victories last season, is 0-3 and has a 17.18 earned-run average.

Morris, 31-12 lifetime against the Indians, gave up 10 runs overall.

“I can honestly say I’ve never been through quite what’s happened in these three starts,” Morris said. “I’ve started out 0-3 before. I’ve lost a lot of games before. I think what’s happened is I’ve run into a real hot team.”

Morris has not been able to pinpoint his problem.

“I think they know every one of my pitches,” he said. “Obviously, that’s not a great situation. But I ain’t running from nothing. I’ll be out there next time as long as the manager hands me the ball.”

Kenny Lofton had two triples, a double and a single, scored four runs and stole a base for the Indians, who had 19 hits.

Thomas Howard, Albert Belle and Reggie Jefferson each hit home runs. The Indians have hit 17 homers in 10 games and scored 10 or more runs four times this season, matching their 1992 total.

Charles Nagy (1-2) gave up one run in seven innings as the Indians stopped a three-game losing streak.

*

Detroit 5, Seattle 0--Cecil Fielder and Travis Fryman each drove in two runs at Detroit as the Tigers went above .500 for the first time since 1991.

The Tigers (5-4) finished 1991 with an 84-78 record. But they got off to an 0-6 start in 1992 and never got closer than three games to .500.

“This is not a bad ballclub,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said. “People are crazy if they think this is a bad team. But we have to pitch. You can never get away from that key thing.”

David Wells (2-0), signed by the Tigers on April 3 after being released by Toronto, made his second start for Detroit. He gave up four hits in seven innings.

Randy Johnson (1-1) gave up four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings for the Mariners. He walked seven and struck out eight.

*

Minnesota 4, Kansas City 3--Shane Mack singled home the winning run with two out in the 10th inning at Minneapolis.

Mike Pagliarulo doubled with one out against reliever Rusty Meacham (0-1), who then walked pinch-hitter Randy Bush. After Chuck Knoblauch popped out, Mack grounded a 1-and-0 pitch past diving third baseman Phil Hiatt and Pagliarulo beat left fielder Kevin McReynolds’ throw to the plate.

“I had a second-degree separated shoulder and I missed out on quite a few at-bats in spring training,” said Mack, a career .300 hitter who entered the game in a three-for-26 slump. “I’m not 100%, but there’s no pain. I had to make some adjustments, get my timing down and stay short with my swing.”

Mark Guthrie (1-0) pitched two innings in relief of starter Kevin Tapani for Minnesota’s third one-run victory over the Royals this season.

Kent Hrbek’s second triple in 694 games over six seasons gave the Twins a 2-0 lead during the first inning. Hrbek also homered during the fourth.

Hiatt hit his third homer for the Royals.

*

New York 5, Texas 3--In a game delayed by rain for more than 2 1/2 hours, Jim Leyritz, Randy Velarde and Pat Kelly hit solo home runs to fuel the Yankees at New York.

Play was stopped because of rain for 91 minutes during the top of the fifth inning. There was another delay of 69 minutes during the bottom of the fifth. About 1,000 fans remained when the game ended at 12:57 a.m. EDT.

Reliever Rich Monteleone (1-1) earned the victory after pitching three innings around the second rain delay. Craig Lefferts (1-2) was the loser.