AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Randy Johnson Just a Misses No-Hitter

Seattle’s Randy Johnson came within five outs of his second no-hitter before Brian McRae doubled in the eighth inning as the Mariners routed the Kansas City Royals, 14-1, Thursday night at Seattle.

The 30-year-old left-hander struck out 15 to extend his major league-leading strikeout total to 277. He walked six and hit a batter in his bid to add to his only no-hitter, a 2-0 victory June 2, 1990, over Detroit in the Kingdome. The 15 strikeouts matched his season high set against Kansas City on June 14.

Johnson (17-8), a two-time All-Star for the Mariners, won his sixth in a row as Seattle tied the Royals for third place in the American League West, 7 1/2 games behind Chicago, with their fifth victory in seven games.

Johnson lost his no-hit bid after he walked leadoff batter Keith Miller. Miller went to second on catcher’s indifference with Greg Gagne batting. McRae hit a hard grounder down the line past diving third baseman Mike Blowers for a double to score Miller.

Johnson was replaced after making 140 pitches. With three more starts, Johnson has a chance to become Seattle’s first 20-game winner and also has an opportunity to become the first major league pitcher to get 300 strikeouts in a season since Nolan Ryan struck out 301 in 1989.

The Royals got their second hit of the game in the ninth inning when Craig Wilson doubled with two outs off Steve Ontiveros.

Boston 6, New York 4--Mike Stanley, tied for the major league lead in grand slams, barely missed another one in the eighth inning and then struck out with the bases loaded to end the ninth, as the Yankees lost for the seventh time in 10 games at New York.

The defeat dropped New York into a second-place tie with Baltimore in the American League East, three games behind Toronto. The Yankees returned home after going 3-6 on a trip that knocked them out of a tie with Toronto.

Boston stopped Scott Kamieniecki’s 12-game winning streak at Yankee Stadium and won its fourth in five tries. The Red Sox remained on the fringe of the race, seven games behind the Blue Jays.

Frank Viola (11-8) won his sixth consecutive decision, and left after five innings because of tightness in his left elbow with a 6-1 lead.

The Yankees closed to 6-2 in the seventh on Randy Velarde’s run-scoring single, then loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. Up stepped Stanley, tied for the major league lead with three grand slams this season.

Stanley went the opposite way on a 3-2 pitch from Ken Ryan, lofting a long drive to right field that brought Yankee players rushing out of the dugout with their arms raised. But Rob Deer ran back and leaped at the fence, making the catch just before crashing into the wall.

Deer’s impact made a portion of the padded gate fly open, and a run scored on the sacrifice fly. Later in the inning, Matt Nokes, pinch hitting after Paul O’Neill was ejected for arguing a called strike, hit a run-scoring single off Greg Harris that made it 6-4.

The Yankees, again, loaded the bases for Stanley in the ninth with two outs. But Stanley struck out.