AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Yankee Bats Hot Before Empty Seats

The smallest crowd at Yankee Stadium in 22 years got to see the most runs scored by the Yankees there in 39.

Before 5,851, Mike Gallego homered twice, Danny Tartabull drove in four runs and Bernie Williams hit a three-run homer into the center-field bleachers as New York routed the Texas Rangers, 18-6, Thursday.

New York hadn’t scored that many runs in Yankee Stadium since a 19-1 victory over the Washington Senators on April 13, 1955. The crowd hadn’t been that small since Oct. 4, 1972, when 5,210 attended a game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

There was no advance sale because the game was a makeup of Wednesday’s rainout.

“We were absolutely brutal today,” Texas Manager Kevin Kennedy said. “We’ll come back tomorrow, but I’m real disappointed.”

New York had six doubles among its 19 hits.

Terry Mulholland, acquired from Philadelphia in the off-season, won in his Yankee debut, despite giving up six runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Five Texas pitchers walked nine and hit a batter. Kenny Rogers, the Rangers’ leader in victories last year with 16, was chased after three-plus innings. He gave up eight earned runs and nine hits.

Wade Boggs had four hits for the second consecutive game: a double and three singles. Tartabull has six RBIs and 10 total bases in the Yankees’ first two games.

Don Mattingly became the ninth Yankee in history to drive in 1,000 runs.

Boston 9, Detroit 6--With the wind blowing out to left field in Fenway Park, unusual this early in the season, the Red Sox had seven more extra-base hits, including home runs by Mike Greenwell, Andre Dawson and Tim Naehring, to finish a three-game sweep of the Tigers.

Of Boston’s 30 hits this season, 16 have been for extra bases.

Detroit also had three homers--two-run drives by Cecil Fielder and Dan Bautista and a solo shot by Lou Whitaker.

On a play when Detroit left fielder Eric Davis ran into the wall and had to leave the game, Greenwell had a triple and also added his second homer of the year. Dawson hit a two-run homer and drove in another run with a bases-loaded walk and Naehring’s three-run shot made it 9-4 in the seventh inning.

Milwaukee 12, Oakland 2--Bill Wegman won his first game since May 30, and John Jaha and Kevin Seitzer hit two-run homers for the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Wegman, who lost his last seven decisions in 1993 and went 4-14, gave up only an unearned run and and five hits in seven innings as Milwaukee got 14 hits and beat Oakland for the 11th consecutive time at home. He struck out five and walked one.

Cleveland 6, Seattle 2--Jack Morris, coming off his worst season, pitched five scoreless innings before faltering in the sixth and led the Indians to a victory at home.

The Indians improved to 2-0, their best start since they won their first three games in 1984.

Eddie Murray hit the Indians’ first home run of the season, driving it over the 19-foot-high wall in left leading off the seventh against John Cummings.

With some of his pitches clocked in the low 90s, Morris, 38, won for the first time since Aug. 17. He gave up five hits.