AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Canseco Powers Rangers to 8-7 Victory

Jose Canseco found the perfect way to break out of a slump.

Canseco, undaunted by a one-for-14 start, didn’t change a thing Sunday--except for the results.

He had three hits, including a home run, as the Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 8-7, at Baltimore.

Canseco had a perfect day at the plate, reaching five times and scoring three runs. He started the season 0 for 13 in the Rangers’ first four games.

“Sometimes when you’re backed up against a wall you have to fight your way out of it. You just can’t give in to it,” Canseco said. “I’ve just tried to stay consistent and not really make a whole lot of changes.”

Ivan Rodriguez homered and had three runs batted in, while Dean Palmer had three hits and drove in two runs. Texas first baseman Will Clark sprained his right ankle in the first inning and left the game in the second.

“He says he’ll be all right,” Ranger Manager Kevin Kennedy said. “We’ll wait and see how it goes after 24 hours.”

Baltimore’s Rafael Palmeiro had a homer and three RBIs.

Rookie Jeffrey Hammonds also homered for the Orioles, who lost two of three to Texas.

Toronto 12, Seattle 6--Joe Carter hit a three-run home run and drove in five runs at Toronto.

Randy Johnson (0-1), who threw seven no-hit innings in Seattle’s season opener before tiring, gave up a career-high and club-record 11 runs.

Dave Stewart (2-0) gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings. He is 19-5 against Seattle.

White singled leading off the first, Roberto Alomar walked and Carter homered. Johnson then walked four consecutive batters, including Alex Gonzalez with the bases loaded.

Johnson fanned Mike Huff in the second for his club-record 1,079th strikeout, passing Mark Langston, but Toronto made it 8-1 in the second on Carter’s fly, Darnell Coles’ run-scoring single and Randy Knorr’s two-run double.

Oakland 15, Minnesota 5--Geronimo Berroa, a non-roster player who made the team in spring training, drove in five runs with a homer, a double and three singles for the Athletics at Minneapolis.

Terry Steinbach drove in four runs with a double and single for Oakland, which outscored the Twins, 39-14, in three games after opening the season with two losses at Milwaukee. The A’s had 20 hits Sunday, 50 in the series.

Berroa, a good minor-league hitter for 10 seasons who has had only four brief stints in the majors, is hitting .692 with two homers and seven RBIs.

Detroit 8, New York 3--Cecil Fielder snapped out of a two-for-23 slump with two home runs at Detroit and Lou Whitaker collected his 1,000th RBI.

Fielder tied the score, 2-2, with a one-out homer in the sixth. After the Tigers moved ahead, he hit a two-run homer in the ninth.

Limited to only two hits through the first six innings by Melido Perez, Detroit rallied for three runs in the seventh against Sterling Hitchcock (0-1) and Jeff Reardon.

Kirk Gibson walked, Alan Trammell sacrificed, pinch-hitter Juan Samuel walked and Tony Phillips singled for a 3-2 lead. Whitaker followed with a sacrifice fly for his 1,000th RBI.

Chicago 8, Boston 0--Alex Fernandez pitched a six-hitter at Chicago for his first shutout in nearly a year.

Fernandez (1-1) struck out six, walked one and was backed by three-run innings in both the third and fifth. It was his first shutout since last April 13 against Minnesota, and the fourth of his career.

Julio Franco and Frank Thomas drove in two runs each for the White Sox. The Red Sox helped Chicago by making three errors.

Kansas City 6, Cleveland 1--Dennis Martinez hit Greg Gagne with a bases-loaded pitch in the sixth inning, forcing in the go-ahead run at Kansas City.

Chris Haney (1-0) gave up one run and three hits in six innings as Kansas City avoided becoming the last major league team to win a game for the third consecutive year.