AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Home No Help for Tigers

The first nine games of the Detroit Tigers’ losing streak were on the road, so fans back home weren’t sure what had gone wrong.

Now they know.

The Tigers lost their 10th consecutive game Thursday night, giving up five runs in the fifth inning and falling to the Texas Rangers, 8-5. Detroit committed four errors and stranded 13 runners.

“Being home doesn’t solve anything,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said. “That has nothing to do with anything.”

Anderson didn’t enjoy his team’s display, but he wasn’t angered by it, either.

“The way we played doesn’t bother me at all,” he said. “If they did this on purpose, that would bother me.”

Detroit has been outscored 80-31 during the slide, the club’s worst since a 12-game losing streak in 1989. The Tigers, who led the American League East by two games on June 22, dropped 4 1/2 games behind first-place Toronto.

Dean Palmer hit a two-run triple in the fifth as Texas won for the fifth time in six games. Mike Schooler (1-0) won for the first time since last Sept. 1, giving up one run and four hits in three innings.

Baltimore 1, Chicago 0--Jamie Moyer outpitched Jack McDowell, who was bidding to become the first 13-game winner in the majors, and Mark McLemore hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning at Chicago.

Moyer (4-3) gave up four hits in eight innings as he won his fourth consecutive decision. Gregg Olson pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 25 chances.

McDowell (12-5) pitched a three-hitter for his sixth complete game. He retired the final 20 batters in order.

Seattle 6, Minnesota 1--The Mariners moved into third place in the AL West ahead of the Angels as they broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in the eighth inning at the Metrodome.

With one out, Twin starter Willie Banks (5-5) was relieved by George Tsamis with two runners on. Dave Magadan’s groundout scored Rich Amaral with the go-ahead run, and the Mariners broke the game open with four consecutive hits off Tsamis and Carl Willis.

The Mariners made it 3-1 on Ken Griffey’s single. After Pete O’Brien’s single, Jay Buhner got a run-scoring single off Willis and Tino Martinez’ double drove in O’Brien and Buhner.

Eric Hanson (6-6), who hadn’t won since beating the Twins at Seattle on May 8, broke a six-game losing streak. He yielded eight hits, walked two and struck out six. In his previous seven games, he was 0-6 with a 5.01 earned-run average.