AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Tigers Trounce Blue Jays Again, 12-1

Cecil Fielder drove in three runs to lead a 15-hit attack as the Tigers routed Toronto, 12-1, Saturday at Detroit, their third victory in as many days against the Blue Jays.

The Tigers, who have been in first place since April 23, widened their lead in the American League East to four games over the second-place Blue Jays. A victory today would give them a sweep of the series and their largest divisional lead of the season.

The Tigers reached double figures in runs for the ninth time this season, and this time they did it without an extra-base hit.

Mike Moore (4-3) scattered eight hits over seven innings, walking one and striking out three.

Al Leiter (3-5) was the losing pitcher, giving up seven runs on seven hits and three walks in three innings.

“I almost wish they had pounded me,” Leiter said. “This was extremely frustrating, because I was making exactly the pitches I wanted, and they kept hitting bloopers.”

Said Toronto Manager Cito Gaston: “There’s not a whole lot I can say about a game like that. The Tigers can get the ball hard, but they didn’t tonight. They just hit the ball in the right place at the right time.”

Chicago 2, Kansas City 1--Ron Karkovice led off the 15th inning with a home run to lift the White Sox over the Royals at Kansas City.

The home run came 14 innings after Tim Raines led off the game with a home run off the left-field foul pole for Chicago.

Karkovice’s homer into the left-field bullpen came on a 3-and-2 pitch from Rusty Meacham (2-2). Jeff Schwarz (1-1) gave up one hit in three innings for his first major league victory.

White Sox starter Alex Fernandez went 10 innings, the longest outing by a Chicago starter since Greg Hibbard went 10 on May 7, 1991.

Baltimore 5, Boston 1--The Orioles’ winning streak reached 10 at Boston when they scored four runs in the ninth inning, including Paul Carey’s tiebreaking single.

Carey, born in Boston, Harold Reynolds and Brady Anderson singled with the bases loaded in the ninth to help send the Red Sox to their seventh consecutive loss and 10th in their last 11 games.

The Orioles, who tied the score, 1-1, in the seventh on Carey’s run-scoring double, sent 10 batters to the plate in the ninth.

Minnesota 7, Oakland 2--Kirby Puckett’s fourth grand slam of his career overshadowed consecutive homers at the start of the game by Rickey Henderson and Craig Paquette as the Twins won at Minneapolis.

The Twins won their season-high fifth successive game, and the last-place Athletics lost their fifth in a row, also a season high.

Jim Deshaies (8-4) didn’t give up a hit after the second inning in his five-inning stint. He gave up four hits and picked up his third successive victory after losing four of his previous five decisions.

Cleveland 10, Texas 9--Matt Young won for the first time in more than two years and Glenallen Hill keyed a five-run fifth inning with a two-run triple to lead the Indians at Arlington, Tex.

It was the fifth victory in six games for Cleveland, which has been in last place in the American League East for 26 of the last 27 days.

Young (1-4) pitched 4 2/3 innings of three-hit relief to end a personal 14-game losing streak and win for the first time since May 20, 1991, when he played for Boston. He gave up one run, struck out eight and walked three.

Hill also had a solo homer in the third and a run-scoring groundout in the sixth to finish with four runs batted in.

The Indians trailed, 6-4, entering the fifth, but Carlos Baerga’s one-out double got a rally started against Kenny Rogers (4-5). Baerga, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games, scored on Carlos Martinez’s two-out double.

Milwaukee 9, New York 1--Cal Eldred pitched a six-hitter and Tom Brunansky drove in four runs to lead the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Eldred (8-6) won for the fourth time in his last five decisions. He walked two and struck out four. He lost a shutout with one out in the ninth inning when Paul O’Neill homered.

Yankee starter Jeff Johnson (0-2) failed for the second consecutive start to get past the second inning. He retired the first two batters, but walked Greg Vaughn and Kevin Reimer before an infield hit by John Jaha loaded the bases. Dickie Thon hit a tapper back to Johnson, but he missed the ball before throwing past first as two runs scored.

Brunansky, batting .172 entering the game, followed with a two-run double to left-center, making it 4-0.