AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Carter Gets Record, Blue Jays Get Routed

Things started off well for Joe Carter and the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday night at Arlington, Tex., as Carter set a major league record by driving in his 30th run of April with a single in the top of the first inning.

Carter drove in Paul Molitor from second to give Toronto a 2-0 lead.

But the rest of the night belonged to the Texas Rangers, who banged out 12 hits--11 singles--to record an 11-3 victory.

The Rangers scored three runs in the bottom of the first and got five more in the fourth.

Kenny Rogers (2-2) gave up six hits in 7 2/3 innings, struck out seven and walked two as the Rangers won consecutive games for the first time this season.

Carter started the day tied with Ron Cey (1977), Dale Murphy (1985) and Dave Winfield (1988), all of whom had 29 RBIs in April.

Jose Canseco got things going for the Rangers in the first when he singled home David Hulse. Doug Strange then delivered a two-run single to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.

Texas added a run in the second with the help of two fielding misplays by left fielder Carlos Delgado. Delgado was charged with an error when he failed to pick up Dean Palmer’s single, allowing Palmer to take second.

Manuel Lee then reached second when his line drive to left hit off the heel of Delgado’s glove. Palmer scored on Hulse’s second single.

The Rangers took a 5-2 lead in the third on Pat Hentgen’s wild pitch, and added five runs in the fourth, highlighted by RBI singles by Canseco and Will Clark.

Cleveland 8, Chicago 7--Rookie Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer and Mark Lewis hit an RBI double as the Indians scored three runs in the 12th inning to beat the White Sox at Cleveland.

The Indians stopped a string of six consecutive losses to the White Sox and moved a game ahead of them in the American League Central.

Chicago committed five errors, including two in the 12th.

The White Sox had taken a 7-5 lead in the top of the inning on Darrin Jackson’s two-out, two-run double off Eric Plunk (3-0).

But Chicago’s defense--ranked 13th in the league entering the game--was true to form in the bottom half. Third baseman Robin Ventura booted Paul Sorrento’s leadoff grounder for the White Sox’s fourth error, and one out later, Ramirez homered off Roberto Hernandez (1-1), his fifth of the season and second in two nights.

Matt Merullo walked, and Chicago second baseman Joey Cora bobbled Kenny Lofton’s grounder, sending Merullo to second. Lewis then doubled into the corner in left.

Both teams stranded runners at third base in the 11th inning.

Albert Belle homered and drove in three runs and Carlos Baerga had three hits for Cleveland. Belle extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a two-run homer in the fourth, his sixth of the season and his third in three days, and added an RBI double in the fifth.

The Indians, 2-12 in extra-inning games last year, are 3-0 this season.

Boston 1, Oakland 0--Billy Hatcher drove in the game’s only run with a groundout and also threw out a runner at the plate as the Red Sox won at Oakland.

It was Boston’s 14th victory in April, tying the franchise record.

The Athletics have lost nine in a row, and 10 in a row to the Red Sox, dating back to last season.

Frank Viola (1-1) beat Ron Darling (2-2), giving up two hits and five walks in six innings. The A’s hit into four double plays.

The game was the first time Viola and Darling had faced each other since a classic NCAA tournament game on May 21, 1981. In that matchup, Darling pitched 11 no-hit innings for Yale but dropped a 1-0 decision to Viola and St. John’s in 12 innings.

Scott Bankhead pitched two perfect innings, and Jeff Russell worked the ninth for his seventh save.

Darling gave up five hits, striking out six and walking three in his first complete game this season.

New York 12, Seattle 2--Jim Leyritz hit the Yankees’ third grand slam in five days in this game at Seattle.

The Yankees sent much of the Kingdome crowd heading for the exits with a five-run fifth inning capped by Leyritz’s line-drive homer to center.

It was Leyritz’s third homer of the season and the second grand slam of his career. Paul O’Neill hit a grand slam for the Yankees Saturday and Matt Nokes hit a grand slam against the Angels on Monday.

The Yankees scored five runs on seven walks and a hit batter in the third inning.