AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Wind Keeps Runs to a Minimum as Wells, Tigers Defeat Rangers

The home run derby never happened.

Instead, with a strong breeze blowing in from the north, a game between two of baseball’s top hitting teams turned into a pitcher’s duel and David Wells led the Detroit Tigers to a 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night at Detroit.

“The wind was so tough,” said Juan Gonzalez, who has five home runs this season. “Did you see the ball Dean (Palmer) hit? You almost had to hit it like that to get it out, the wind blew so hard.”

Palmer’s homer, his sixth, was hit on a line into the left-field seats. As a result, it stayed down out of the wind.

“That ball Palmer hit would have gone out through a tornado,” Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson said.

The Tigers began the day leading the majors in scoring with 92 runs in 12 games and Texas led with 17 home runs in 11 games.

But Detroit managed only five hits off Kenny Rogers (1-1) and one reliever and Texas had only four hits, including Palmer’s homer, off four pitchers.

Wells (3-0), released by Toronto a week before opening day, made another strong start and lowered his earned-run average to 0.95. He shut out Texas until Palmer homered with two outs in the seventh inning.

Wells worked seven innings, giving up three hits. He struck out six and walked one. Mike Henneman pitched the ninth, striking out Jose Canseco and Gonzalez to start the inning, and got his third save.

The Tigers broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh, getting a run-scoring double from pinch-hitter Lou Whitaker and a run-scoring single from Tony Phillips.

Chicago 2, Baltimore 1--A 14th-inning sacrifice fly by Frank Thomas gave the White Sox the victory at Baltimore.

Starter Wilson Alvarez and three relievers held the Orioles to one hit during the final eight innings as the White Sox ended a three-game losing streak.

Joey Cora drew a leadoff walk in the 14th from Alan Mills (0-1) and advanced on a passed ball. Cora took third on Lance Johnson’s single and scored on Thomas’ fly to center field.

Minnesota 10, Milwaukee 0--Dave Winfield’s three-run home run in the first inning sparked the Twins at Minneapolis.

Willie Banks (2-0) gave up six hits in 6 1/3 innings and relievers Pat Mahomes and Brett Merriman finished the Twins’ first shutout of the season. Banks struck out seven and walked two.

The Twins, who began the game tied for last in the American League with a .228 batting average, roughed up Jamie Navarro (0-1). Minnesota scored six runs in the first three innings and led, 10-0, after the sixth.

Kansas City 8, Toronto 2--Kevin Appier pitched a three-hitter and the Royals established season highs with their eight runs and 16 hits at Kansas City.

The Royals got three hits each from Felix Jose and Chris Gwynn.

Appier (1-3) struck out eight.

Toronto’s Todd Stottlemyre (2-1) gave up five runs in the first two innings.

Boston 5, Seattle 2--Roger Clemens gave up three hits in 6 1/3 innings at Seattle as the Red Sox won their fourth in a row.

John Valentin and Mike Grenwell hit home runs as the Red Sox improved to 11-3, the best record in the major leagues.

Clemens (3-0) gave up only one run on three singles, walked six and struck out two. He is 13-5 against the Mariners, including nine consecutive victories at the Kingdome.

In his fourth start of the season, the three-time American League Cy Young Award winner lowered his ERA to 1.48 in 30 1/3 innings.

Oakland 9, New York 7--Rickey Henderson’s two-run home run in the 10th inning gave the Athletics the victory at Oakland.

The A’s, who ended a four-game losing streak, took a 6-2 lead into the ninth inning before Dennis Eckersley and the bullpen squandered it.

A two-run doubled by Bernie Williams off Eckersley gave the Yankees a 7-6 lead. Oakland tied it in its half of the ninth on an RBI double by Kevin Seitzer.