AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Molitor’s Double in 12th Inning Beats Athletics

Paul Molitor hit a two-run homer and doubled home the winning run in the 12th inning Friday night at Toronto as the Blue Jays won their sixth game in a row with a 4-3 victory over Oakland.

Roberto Alomar led off with a single against Rich Gossage (3-2) and Molitor followed with a double to left center. When the ball deflected off Rickey Henderson’s glove, Alomar scored.

The win, combined with Detroit’s loss to the Angels, pulled the Blue Jays into a first-place tie with the Tigers in the American League East.

Brent Gates’ infield single scored Lance Blankenship from second to pull the Athletics even, 3-3, in the seventh.

Blankenship, who reached on a one-out single and stole second, rounded third on Gates’ soft grounder. When third baseman Ed Sprague failed to field the ball cleanly, he kept on going.

Longtime Athletic Dave Stewart, starting for the Blue Jays, fielded the ball and threw home in time to get Blankenship, but catcher Pat Borders was standing about 10 feet up the third base line to take the throw, giving Blankenship room to slide around the tag.

Boston 1, Chicago 0--Bob Melvin singled in a run in the ninth inning and four Boston pitchers combined on a four-hitter, leading the Red Sox at Boston.

The game, delayed at the beginning for 61 minutes by rain, was played in a steady drizzle. Play was again halted for one hour and 16 minutes in the middle of the eighth inning.

Melvin’s single against Roberto Hernandez (1-2) drove in Ivan Calderon from third. Calderon singled with one out off shortstop Ozzie Guillen’s glove and moved to third on a single by Scott Cooper, who had fouled off eight pitches.

Kansas City 3, Milwaukee 2--Keith Miller scored the tie-breaking run on David Howard’s shallow sacrifice fly in the seventh at Kansas City, lifting the Royals to their fifth consecutive victory.

Milwaukee committed three errors, including shortstop Dickie Thon’s second miscue, which keyed the decisive seventh.

Billy Brewer (1-0), who got the last out in the seventh, earned his first major league victory.

Texas 5, New York 3--Kevin Brown beat the Yankees for the eighth consecutive time and the Rangers scored two runs on an error by center fielder Gerald Williams at Arlington, Tex.

Brown (5-3) gave up seven hits and three runs over eight innings. Tom Henke pitched the ninth for his 10th save.

Trailing, 2-1, the Rangers scored three runs in the seventh against Yankees starter Jim Abbott (4-6).

Baltimore 6, Seattle 5--Jack Voigt, who earlier hit his first major league homer, singled home Mike Devereaux in the 10th inning at Baltimore to give the Orioles a comeback victory.

The Orioles trailed, 4-1, in the seventh and 5-3 in the ninth before rallying for their third win in four games.

Devereaux opened the 10th with a walk against Russ Swan (3-3). After a sacrifice and a popup, Voigt singled to right and Devereaux beat the throw home, which got past catcher Bill Haselman.

Minnesota 3, Cleveland 2--Pedro Munoz singled home the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning and Jim Deshaies pitched seven strong innings at Cleveland to lift the Twins.

Deshaies (7-4) gave up two runs and five hits, walked two and struck out two. Carl Willis struck out Cleveland’s Paul Sorrento with runners at second and third to end the eighth, and Rick Aguilera got the final three outs for his 15th save.