AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Stottlemyre Shutout Gives Blue Jays a Lift

There’s been a lot of talk in Toronto about moving Todd Stottlemyre out of the starting rotation and going with a four-man rotation down the stretch.

The right-hander put such talk to rest Tuesday night by pitching a three-hit shutout as the Blue Jays won their ninth in a row with a 5-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Toronto.

“It hasn’t been (Toronto Manager) Cito Gaston saying it and it hasn’t been the Toronto Blue Jays saying it,” Stottlemyre said. “It’s been mostly the fans and the media making that suggestion.”

Stottlemyre won’t be going to the bullpen because the Blue Jays announced Tuesday that Jack Morris is out for the season because of a torn ligament in his right elbow.

The Blue Jays, who have put together their longest winning streak since 1986, extended their American Le ague East lead to five games over the Yankees, who lost to the Minnesota Twins, 5-4. Baltimore, which beat Cleveland, 7-6, is in third, 5 1/2 games behind Toronto.

Toronto’s magic number is seven to win its third consecutive AL East title and fifth since 1985.

Stottlemyre (11-10) struck out a career-high 10 in winning his third consecutive start. He walked one in his first complete game of the season and third career shutout.

Roger Clemens (11-14) gave up three runs on four hits over six innings, striking out two and walking two.

Minnesota 5, New York 4--Pedro Munoz hit two homers and drove in all the Twins’ runs at New York.

Munoz hit a three-run homer in the third inning and a two-run shot in the sixth off Jim Abbott (10-13). The left fielder entered the game hitting only .227 but went three for four to raise his average to .234.

Twin starter Willie Banks (10-11) struggled despite giving up only three hits in 5 2/3 innings. He was wild throughout and gave up three runs and five walks.

Baltimore 7, Cleveland 6--David Segui singled home the winning run and the Orioles took advantage of sloppy defense to score twice in the ninth to beat the Indians at Cleveland.

The Orioles have one game left in Cleveland before closing the season with 10 home games. The last seven of those come against the teams ahead of them, three against second-place New York and four against Toronto.

Trailing, 6-5, the Orioles rallied against Jerry DiPoto (4-3) in the ninth. Harold Baines walked, and pinch-runner Damon Buford went to second on Cal Ripken’s single.

Chris Hoiles then bunted to DiPoto, who threw to third for the out. But third baseman Alvaro Espinoza threw wildly trying for the double play at first, letting Ripken score and sending Hoiles to third.

Segui’s single, a shallow fly that went in and out of the glove of a charging Albert Belle, put Baltimore ahead, 7-6. The hit ended Segui’s 0-for-15 slump.

Seattle 8, Texas 0--Randy Johnson pitched a three-hitter for his career-high seventh consecutive victory and Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 42nd home run as the Mariners won at Seattle.

The second-place Rangers remained 4 1/2 games behind Chicago in the AL West.

Johnson (18-8), who leads the majors in strikeouts, struck out 11 and walked one to improve his record to 11-3 at the Kingdome this year. It was his third shutout and ninth complete game of 1993 and the 13th time this season he struck out 10 or more.

The 30-year-old left-hander has 288 strikeouts with two starts left in his bid to become the eighth pitcher in AL history to reach 300 strikeouts. Singles by Manny Lee in the third and Julio Franco in the fourth and seventh were Texas’ only hits.

Griffey, in a six-for-46 slump, hit a 407-foot homer over the right-field wall in the fifth off Jeff Bronkey for his first homer in eight days and his career-best 104th run batted in. Milwaukee 7, Detroit 4--John Jaha’s solo homer in the eighth broke a tie and lifted the Brewers at Detroit.

Jaha’s 16th homer on the first pitch from Storm Davis (2-8), the fourth Detroit pitcher, helped make a winner of Mike Ignasiak (1-0), who got his first victory since Oct. 5, 1991.

Oakland 9, Kansas City 6-- Ruben Sierra had three hits and three RBIs and Scott Hemond singled four times and scored three runs as the Athletics beat the slumping Royals at Oakland.

The Royals have lost three in a row and six of eight.