AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Tigers Perform Another Twin Killing

It takes a lot to make Tom Kelly angry.

Something like an eight-game losing streak, consecutive shutouts, seven walks, two costly errors--that will make him very angry indeed.

And, make no mistake, the Twins manager was close to the boiling point Friday night after the Detroit Tigers blitzed Minnesota again, 8-0, behind David Wells at Detroit.

“I was embarrassed,” Kelly said. “I’m sure the coaches were embarrassed and some of the players were embarrassed. We didn’t pitch well in the first inning, threw the ball away, and got behind right away.

“We stunk out there. That’s pretty much it.”

Detroit swept a three-game series at the Metrodome last weekend, outscoring the Twins, 45-10, including margins of 17-1 and 16-5.

Wells (4-0) was released by Toronto before the season. He gave up four hits in seven innings. Greg Gohr pitched two hitless innings to finish the combined shutout.

“Wells can pitch,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said. “He’s pitched well in every game. If he stays healthy, on a club like this, he can win 20 games.”

Willie Banks (2-1), the first of four Minnesota pitchers, gave up five runs, only three of which were earned, on seven hits and two walks in four innings.

Chicago 10, Toronto 2--Frank Thomas hit a grand slam and drove in five runs as the White Sox routed the Blue Jays at Chicago.

It was the fourth time Thomas has driven in five runs in a game. It was his second grand slam.

Thomas has 15 RBIs in his last five games and leads the team with 21.

Alex Fernandez (3-2) gave up four hits over seven innings for the victory.

Thomas’ grand slam came against Todd Stottlemyre (3-2) and capped a five-run third inning. He added a double in the sixth.

Oakland 8, Cleveland 2--Ruben Sierra and Terry Steinbach each hit three-run home runs in the 10th inning to lift the Athletics over the Indians at Cleveland.

The 10th-inning power display gave the A’s their first road victory in five tries this season. The loss was Cleveland’s fourth in a row.

Rich Gossage (2-0) got the win with a perfect ninth. Gossage, 41, has not given up a run in eight innings this season.

Rickey Henderson started the 10th with a walk against Eric Plunk (1-2) and took second when third baseman Carlos Martinez couldn’t handle Eric Fox’s bunt. Sierra followed with his fourth home run.

After two more singles, Steinbach hit his second home run of the season, against Tom Kramer.

Baltimore 12, Kansas City 5--Leo Gomez homered and tied his career-high with four RBIs as the Orioles defeated the Royals at Baltimore.

Mark McLemore had two hits and scored three runs for the Orioles, who have scored 31 runs in their last three games after averaging only 3.4 runs in the first 18 games of the season.

George Brett and Brent Mayne hit home runs for the Royals. It was Brett’s first home run of the season and 299th of his career.

With the score 3-3, Harold Baines singled against Kevin Appier and Gomez drove an 0-and-1 pitch deep into the left-field seats.

New York 3, Seattle 0--Melido Perez shut down the Mariners for the second time in a week and Jim Leyritz homered and drove in all three runs, to give the Yankees the victory at New York.

Perez, who pitched nine scoreless innings without a decision Saturday against Seattle, gave up four hits in eight-plus innings for his first victory of the season.

Perez (1-1) struck out nine and walked seven. Steve Farr got the final two outs for his fifth save.

The Mariners had their three-game winning streak ended and also lost a chance at their best record in April, finishing the month 11-11. Seattle went 11-10 in April 1980.

Milwaukee 5, Texas 4--Greg Vaughn’s two-run home run in the eighth inning lifted the Brewers over the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

With Texas leading, 4-3, Darryl Hamilton singled and Vaughn hit his fourth homer of the season into the left-field seats against reliever Bob Patterson (1-1). It was the first home run against a Texas reliever this season, a span of 57 innings.

Graeme Lloyd (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief to become the first player from Australia to win a major league game.