AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Brett Celebrates Anniversary

Ten years later, George Brett’s bat was clean. But the results were still dramatic.

Brett homered twice on the 10th anniversary of his infamous pine tar home run as the Kansas City Royals beat the Tigers, 6-3, Saturday at Detroit.

The loss extended the Tigers’ losing streak to six games.

“I’ve been talking about it for three weeks in anticipation of this day,” Brett said. “And, frankly, I can’t wait until tomorrow. But everybody saw it. This bat was clean. I just started using it yesterday. It was a brand new bat.”

Brett’s home run against Rich Gossage 10 years ago was nullified by umpires because of excessive pine tar on his bat and later reinstated by then-American League President Lee MacPhail. The Royals eventually won, 5-4, in New York.

This time, Brett hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and a two-run drive in the seventh. He has nine home runs this season.

“The Hall of Famer came through for us,” Royal Manager Hal McRae said. “George is swinging the bat a lot better. It gave us a big lift.”

Seattle 6, Cleveland 5--Ken Griffey Jr. homered in his fifth consecutive game, tying a team record and leading the Mariners at Cleveland.

Griffey matched the Mariners’ mark of homers in five consecutive games set by Richie Zisk in 1981. Griffey also tied his career high with his 27th homer.

Griffey’s solo shot in the fifth inning was the Mariners’ third home run of the game and gave them a 5-0 lead. Jay Buhner hit his 100th home run and Dave Valle also hit a homer.

Baltimore 9, Minnesota 2--Harold Baines went three for three, including his 2,000th hit, and Brady Anderson hit two solo home runs to lift the Orioles at Minneapolis.

Baines, who also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, became the second Oriole player this month to get his 2,000th hit. Cal Ripken Jr. reached the mark on July 10.

Anderson led off the fifth inning with a home run, then opened the ninth with his 10th homer of the season. Jeffrey Hammonds had a two-run, pinch-single in the eighth and a run-scoring single in the ninth.

Jamie Moyer (7-4) has won seven of his last eight decisions. He gave up seven hits in 6 1/3 innings and struck out five.

Chicago 6, Milwaukee 5--Bo Jackson’s fourth hit of the game, a tiebreaking single with two out in the ninth inning, lifted the White Sox at Chicago.

With one out in the ninth, Frank Thomas singled against Mike Fetters (2-3). Ellis Burks, who had doubled home the tying run in the seventh, singled with two outs.

Scott Radinsky (5-0) struck out Kevin Reimer with runners on second and third to end the ninth.

The White Sox tied the score, 5-5, in the seventh inning when Thomas singled, stole second and scored on a two-out double by Burks.

Pat Listach, Darryl Hamilton and Greg Vaughn each drove in a run in the top of the seventh, putting the Brewers ahead, 5-4.

Toronto 5, Texas 1--John Olerud went three for four with two doubles and raised his batting average to .402, leading the Blue Jays at Arlington, Tex.

Olerud hit a two-run double that capped a four-run eighth inning. He has a 12-game hitting streak, and has gone six for 10 in the last three days against Texas.

With the score tied, 1-1, Pat Borders led off the eighth inning with his seventh home run of the season. Borders’ first homer since June 19 came against Charlie Leibrandt (9-6).

Boston 5, Oakland 3--Aaron Sele improved his major league record to 4-0 and the Red Sox hit three homers at Boston, lifting them to their ninth consecutive victory.

Boston, which got consecutive home runs from Scott Cooper and Ernest Riles in the second inning and a two-run drive by Luis Rivera in the fourth, has won 24 of 29 as it moved into first place in the American League East by a percentage point over New York.

Boston has hit 31 homers in its last 30 games after hitting 30 in its first 66 games.