AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Final-Inning Rally Gets Morris a Victory at Last

Jack Morris went 34 days between victories. To him, it seemed much longer than that.

Morris pitched his second complete game of the season but needed some ninth-inning dramatics to win for the first time since June 27 as the Blue Jays defeated Detroit, 2-1, Sunday at Toronto.

“It just feels good to win, it’s been so long for me,” Morris said after the Blue Jays scored twice in their final at-bat.

The Blue Jays have won seven of the last eight games, and five of their last six wins have come in the final at-bat.

Morris (6-10) gave up six hits, walked six and struck out eight.

Morris was two outs from losing when the Blue Jays began the rally that made him a winner.

Roberto Alomar singled with one out in the ninth to knock out Tiger starter Bill Gullickson. Paul Molitor’s single moved Alomar to second. Alomar went to third on Joe Carter’s fly ball to center and scored on John Olerud’s single.

With Molitor at third, Fernandez chopped the ball between Tigers first baseman Mickey Tettleton and the foul line to score the winning run.

Chicago 4, Seattle 0--Jack McDowell became the major leagues’ first 17-game winner when he pitched a two-hitter to help the Sox complete a three-game sweep over the Mariners at Seattle.

The White Sox’s sixth consecutive victory expanded their American League West lead over second-place Kansas City to five games.

McDowell (17-6) beat Chris Bosio (4-6), who gave up only six hits, to win his fifth game in a row. McDowell also won five consecutively in both April and June.

Oakland 9, Texas 5--The Athletics won without Rickey Henderson as Ruben Sierra hit a three-run homer in a five-run fifth inning at Oakland.

Sierra’s homer, his 17th overall and his eighth three-run shot this season, came against Ranger reliever Mike Schooler.

Jeff Paquette led off the Oakland fifth with a homer, his sixth, against Texas starter Kenny Rogers (8-7) to make it 5-3. Jerry Browne singled, took second on Mike Bordick’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Scott Hemond’s double.

Boston 2, Baltimore 1--Danny Darwin pitched 6 1/3 strong innings and Andre Dawson homered to lead the Red Sox at Baltimore.

Scott Fletcher snapped an 0-for-12 streak with three hits, helping Boston to its 14th victory in 17 games.

Chris Hoiles homered for the Orioles, who have lost five of their last six games and seven of 10. It was Hoiles’ 20th homer, tying his career best.

Milwaukee 9, New York 2--The Brewers used four homers and the complete-game pitching of Jamie Navarro at New York to end a four-game losing streak.

The loss ended the Yankees’ four-game winning streak and dropped New York one game behind Toronto in the American League East as the two division leaders prepare for a four-game series that opens today at New York.

Navarro (7-8) gave up nine hits and two walks, while striking out three in pitching his fourth complete game. One of the hits was Dion James’ fifth home run of the season in the first inning, a 420-foot blast, and only the eighth ever hit into the center-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium.

Cleveland 9, Kansas City 5--The Indians knocked out Kevin Appier with a seven-run second inning and held on at Kansas City.

Appier (11-6) was charged with five earned runs in the second as seven runs scored with one out. The Indians had three doubles among their six hits in the inning.