AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : McDowell Wins His 14th Almost Before He Gets the Ball

Victories seldom come more easily for the Chicago White Sox. They scored six runs in the first inning Saturday night and then turned the game over to Jack McDowell.

It wasn’t as if McDowell, the majors’ first 14-game winner, needed such a big cushion against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team he has dominated over the years.

McDowell limited them to six hits in eight innings as the White Sox defeated the Brewers, 9-4, at Milwaukee. The right-hander made sure he didn’t get too comfortable with the big lead.

“You want to throw strikes, but I concentrated early. I tried to shut it down and let us get a couple more runs,” said McDowell, who had a season-high nine strikeouts.

“I had a live arm early. That’s probably the hardest I’ve thrown my splitter all year.”

McDowell (14-6) has won seven of nine starts and is 8-1 in his career against the Brewers. He was lifted after eight innings and 117 pitches, falling one inning short of his seventh complete game.

Kansas City 5, Toronto 4--Because a ball skipped past Devon White, the Blue Jays slipped again.

Brian McRae’s two-run, inside-the-park homer at Toronto broke a tie with two out in the ninth inning, and the Royals sent the Blue Jays to their 12th loss in 14 games.

With Felix Jose at third base, McRae hit a sinking liner to center field. White, a four-time Gold Glove winner, charged the ball, but it bounced past him and rolled to the wall.

The relay throw sailed over catcher Pat Borders’ head and McRae scored standing up with his seventh home run of the season for a 5-3 lead.

Mark Gubicza (3-6) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the victory. Jeff Montgomery got three outs for his 27th save. Danny Cox (5-5) took the loss.

New York 9, Oakland 5--The Yankees’ climb to first place is complete.

With their victory over the Athletics at New York, the Yankees moved into a tie with Toronto for the American League East lead.

“Although there’s a nice sound to it, there’s still a long way to go, a lot of games to be played,” Don Mattingly said.

Mattingly singled, doubled and hit his first triple in nearly four years. Dion James also had three hits for the Yankees, who had 14 hits in all.

“Anytime you’re in first place, you’re doing something right,” James said.

New York, tied with Toronto at 50-42 (.543), hasn’t been first in the second half of the season since July 27, 1988.

“It doesn’t mean anything in July,” said Jim Abbott, who won for the second time in seven starts. “I’d like to be in first place in October.”

Abbott (6-8) gave up five runs and five hits in six-plus innings, including Rickey Henderson’s 62nd leadoff homer and a three-run drive by Ruben Sierra.

Oakland’s Bobby Witt (8-7) had his worst start of the season, giving up seven runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Minnesota 4, Baltimore 2--It’s early, but the Orioles missed an opportunity to move into first place.

Kevin Tapani pitched seven strong innings, Kent Hrbek homered and Pat Meares hit a two-run triple at Baltimore as the Twins broke a four-game losing streak.

Brady Anderson and Mike Devereaux homered for the Orioles. The loss left Baltimore half a game behind co-leaders Toronto and New York.

Boston 4, Seattle 3--A lucky bounce. A series of baserunning blunders. A poorly executed rundown play. The little things are killing the Mariners and turning the Red Sox into contenders.

Bob Zupcic singled in two runs in the seventh inning and made a key play in right field in the ninth to help preserve the victory at Boston, giving the Red Sox their 17th victory in 22 games.

Zupcic’s game-winning hit came right after Mike Greenwell, who was thrown out at the plate on a ground ball, sustained a rundown long enough to let two other runners to get into scoring position.

“We do that correctly, we’re out of the inning,” Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said. “We run a guy back to third like we practice all damn spring and we’re out of that jam. Those are the little things that are going to beat you.”

The Mariners also made a couple of baserunning mistakes in the first inning. The latter, on which Ken Griffey Jr. was caught trying to advance from first to third on a single, kept Seattle from having a big inning.

And the ball bounced right for the Red Sox. With a man on first and two out in the ninth, Mariner pinch-hitter Mackey Sasser doubled into the right-field corner. The ball bounced off the wall to Zupcic, preventing the run from scoring, and Jeff Russell held on for his 22nd save.

Red Sox starter Danny Darwin (9-7) won his sixth consecutive game at Fenway Park.

Detroit 6, Texas 4--Cecil Fielder’s three-run homer after a controversial call in the third inning at Arlington, Tex., resulted in the Rangers’ first loss in seven games.

The Tigers were ahead, 1-0, with Tony Phillips and Travis Fryman on base when Fielder hit a pitch from Roger Pavlik 417 feet into the left-field seats for his 24th homer. He leads the majors with 80 RBIs. Phillips singled with one out and Lou Whitaker walked before Fryman was safe on a fielder’s-choice grounder to shortstop Jeff Huson.

Umpire Ted Hendry ruled the relay throw to first pulled Rafael Palmeiro off the bag, although replays indicated otherwise, and the call let Fielder come to the plate.

The victory stopped the Tigers’ three-game losing streak and pulled them into a tie for second with Baltimore in the AL East.