AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Gibson’s Homers Power Tigers

Kirk Gibson places winning over everything, including friendships.

Gibson ended a one-for-15 slump with two three-run homers Tuesday, powering the Detroit Tigers past the Kansas City Royals, 9-5, at Detroit.

For Gibson, who scored three runs, the multi-homer game was the 13th of his career and gave him a career-high six runs batted in. Both homers came off Mark Gubicza (0-1), who he became good friends with while the two were Royals.

“He is supposed to be my friend,” Gubicza said. “I made two mistakes to him, and he hit them both out. You are supposed to avoid three-run homers, and I gave up two of them. That doesn’t help your team.”

Mike Moore (2-1) allowed five runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings for the Tigers.

Cleveland 7, Minnesota 6--Sandy Alomar Jr. singled in two runs to cap a three-run ninth inning in the Indians’ comeback victory at Minneapolis.

Cleveland tied the game, 5-5, in the ninth off Rick Aguilera (0-1), who blew his first save in five tries. Jose Mesa (1-0) got one out in the eighth for the win with Steve Farr picking up the save.

Omar Vizquel had three hits, and Carlos Baerga and Albert Belle homered for the Indians, who ended a three-game losing streak. Dave Winfield had four of Minnesota’s 16 hits and Kirby Puckett extended his hitting streak to a major-league high 14 games.

Toronto 13, Texas 3--Carlos Delgado and Joe Carter hit three-run homers and the Blue Jays got a season-high 17 hits at Toronto.

Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar each had three hits, and John Olerud, Ed Sprague, Carter and Delgado each had two for Toronto, averaging almost eight runs a game this year.

“It can be a frightening thing to have to face a lineup that’s as strong as ours from spots one through seven,” Molitor said. “Even with two outs, this team is capable of breaking out.”

Toronto won its third in a row as Delgado hit his league-leading eighth homer in the fourth inning, capping a five-run burst that gave the Blue Jays an 11-2 edge. Juan Guzman allowed two runs to improve to 2-1.

Chicago 6, Milwaukee 2--Frank Thomas, Julio Franco and Ron Karkovice each homered during a five-run eighth inning to rally the White Sox at Milwaukee.

Jason Bere (2-0) allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings to win his ninth consecutive decision.

“Your job is to keep them close and get a quality start,” said Bere, who struck out seven and walked four. “Two earned runs could win a ballgame, but I think with the offense we have, no team feels comfortable with only two runs against us.”

Bere, who won his last seven starts in 1993, has not lost since Aug. 8. Kirk McCaskill pitched the final two innings. Ricky Bones (2-1) lost his first game of the season for Milwaukee after entering the game undefeated with a American League-leading 0.52 earned run average.

Boston 13, Oakland 5--Mo Vaughn and Tim Naehring twice hit back-to-back home runs and Scott Cooper added a grand slam as the Red Sox defeated the Athletics at Boston.

The Red Sox, who have beaten the A’s seven consecutive times, hit six home runs, their most in a game since Aug. 12, 1981. Vaughn and Naehring hit consecutive solo homers in the second and sixth innings.

Seattle 7, New York 1--Jay Buhner hit two home runs, leading Greg Hibbard and the Mariners to their first road victory of the season over the Yankees at New York.

Buhner’s homers traveled 430 and 439 feet off Jim Abbott (1-2). Hibbard (1-1) won for the first time since leaving the Chicago Cubs last year and signing with the Mariners.