AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Gaetti’s Home Run Lifts Kansas City, 3-2

Gary Gaetti’s tie-breaking home run off Jack Morris with two outs in the eighth inning Saturday night gave David Cone and the Kansas City Royals a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City.

The victory moved the Royals into a first-place tie with Chicago in the American League West.

“It was a nasty pitch. It was a darn good pitch,” said Gaetti, who was signed by the Royals on June 19 after being released by the Angels. “He can’t be real mad about the pitch. I was just able to get the barrel on it.”

Said Morris (5-8): “It was a slider right where I wanted to throw it, down and away. I’d throw him that pitch 50 more times. When a guy hits a home run on your pitch, what are you going to do?”

Cone (6-8) held the Blue Jays hitless until John Olerud, the American League’s leading batter, led off the seventh with a single over the head of second baseman Rico Rossy. Cone gave up three hits in eight innings, walking five and striking out six.

“At least I can say it took a .400 hitter to break it up,” Cone said. “I pitched him tough the first two times. The third time, I got ahead 0-1 with a breaking ball and tried to come in. But he covered it. It was a clean single.”

Jeff Montgomery pitched the ninth for his 24th save.

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Baltimore 9, Chicago 6--Mike Devereaux’s two-run homer in the first inning and a three-run shot by rookie Jeffrey Hammonds in the second powered the Orioles at Chicago.

It was the fifth loss in six games for the slumping White Sox.

Harold Reynolds led off the first with a walk, went to third on a pair of passed balls and scored as Mark McLemore grounded out. Harold Baines drew a two-out walk and scored ahead of Devereaux’s fifth homer, off Jason Bere (3-3).

Frank Thomas hit his 17th homer in the bottom of the first, but the Orioles came back with three more runs in the second on a walk, a hit batsman and Hammonds’ second homer off reliever Kirk McCaskill.

Tim Raines hit a three-run homer in the second off starter Rick Sutcliffe after Bo Jackson walked and Lance Johnson singled. Sutcliffe left in the fourth after a single and a hit batsman and winner Mark Williamson (5-1) came in, getting Thomas to hit into a double play.

Gregg Olson got the final three outs for his 23rd save.

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Oakland 5, New York 4--Ruben Sierra and Dave Henderson hit two-run homers in the fifth inning at Oakland to help the Athletics to their fifth consecutive victory.

After Melido Perez (5-7) walked Brent Gates, Sierra put the A’s ahead, 3-2, with his 12th homer. Troy Neel followed with a double, and with two outs, Henderson hit his ninth homer.

New York came back to make it 5-4 in the seventh on Mike Gallego’s two-run single off reliever Goose Gossage.

The Yankees opened the fourth with three consecutive doubles, chasing Oakland starter Mike Mohler after the first two. Don Mattingly led off with his second double of the game and scored on Danny Tartabull’s hit. Mike Stanley gave New York a 2-1 lead with a double off reliever Joe Boever.

Boever (3-2) pitched 3 1/3 innings, giving up one run on four hits.

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Texas 11, Detroit 5--Julio Franco’s fourth career grand slam capped a six-run seventh inning for the Rangers at Detroit.

Texas, winning for the sixth time in eight games, built a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Detroit pulled even in the fifth, but its bullpen failed, sending the Tigers to their 11th loss in 12 games.

Kurt Knudsen (0-1), the third Detroit pitcher, walked Geno Petralli to start the seventh before giving up consecutive singles to Butch Davis and Dean Palmer.

That loaded the bases, and brought Bob MacDonald out of the Tiger bullpen. He gave up a tie-breaking sacrifice fly to Doug Strange, and a run-scoring single to Mario Diaz. A walk to Gary Redus preceded Franco’s seventh homer.

Mike Schooler (2-0) pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings of relief.

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Milwaukee 3, Minnesota 1--Resurgent Ricky Bones pitched a strong game, leading the Brewers at Minneapolis.

After struggling for most of the season, Bones (5-5) is 2-0 with a 2.08 earned-run average in his last three starts. He gave up five hits in 7 2/3 innings, outpitching Kevin Tapani (3-10), who lost his fourth consecutive decision.

Tapani received no support from the Twins, whose offensive woes continued. In losing 14 of its last 18 games to fall into last place in the American League West, Minnesota has been outscored, 94-49. The Twins rank last in the league with 322 runs.

Milwaukee scored twice in the third. After Tapani walked Juan Bell and Robin Yount, Greg Vaughn lined the next pitch to center for a run-scoring single. One out later, ex-Twin Tom Brunansky singled home another run.

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Boston 6, Seattle 5--Andre Dawson’s ninth-inning home run at Seattle broke a 5-5 tie and put the Red Sox over .500 for the first time since June 8.

Dawson, who also had a run-scoring single in the seventh, hit his fifth home run against Norm Charlton (1-2), giving the Red Sox their 10th victory in 11 games.