AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Hentgen Pitches Two-Hitter in 1-0 Victory

Pat Hentgen struck out a team-record 14 and pitched a two-hitter for the first shutout of his career Tuesday night, leading the Toronto Blue Jays past the Kansas City Royals, 1-0, at Toronto.

Kevin Appier (2-3) lost despite pitching a three-hitter and striking out 10. Joe Carter drove in the only run with an infield single in the fourth inning.

“I knew I had good stuff when I was warming up in the bullpen,” Hentgen said. “When I got to the mound to start the game, I was concentrating on keeping it going.”

Hentgen (4-2) broke the club record for strikeouts of 12, shared by Pete Vukovich, Jim Clancy and Tom Candiotti. He struck out the side in the first and eighth innings. The 14 strikeouts are the most in the majors this season.

The shutout came in Hentgen’s 41st start. He walked two in his third complete game of the season.

“I’ve never seen him pitch any better,” Royal Manager Hal McRae said. “Unfortunately for us, he picked a night when our guy was super, too.”

Appier walked one in his first complete game of the season. He struck out the side in the third and fifth innings.

“It’s just one of those games when there isn’t much you can do,” Appier said. “I had great stuff tonight, but the other guy was just a little bit better.”

Boston 7, Seattle 6--The Red Sox lost two pitchers to injuries in the third inning at Boston, one during a bench-clearing brawl, but still won their sixth in a row.

Starter Frank Viola, who underwent surgery on his left elbow last Sept. 29, clutched the same elbow after throwing a wild pitch far behind Eric Anthony in the third inning. X-rays were inconclusive, and he was scheduled for more tests today.

Paul Quantrill relieved Viola and threw a high-and-tight pitch that sent Anthony to the ground. Anthony was then intentionally walked, and got halfway to first base when he ran at Quantrill and tackled the pitcher.

Quantrill wound up on the bottom of a pileup. When order was restored, the right-hander left with numbness in his pitching hand. Anthony was ejected.

Scott Bankhead (3-0) pitched 3 1/3 hitless innings for the victory.

Baltimore 9, Oakland 1--Ben McDonald pitched a five-hitter to become the American League’s first six-game winner and Mike Devereaux hit two home runs at Oakland.

The loss was the 13th in 14 games for the A’s. Baltimore won for the fifth time in seven games.

McDonald (6-0) struck out eight and walked three in his second consecutive complete game. It was Devereaux’s fourth career multi-homer game.

Ron Darling (2-3), unlucky in his last outing when he went the distance in a 1-0 loss to Frank Viola and the Boston Red Sox, was tagged for six runs and nine hits in six-plus innings.

Texas 7, Detroit 2--Juan Gonzalez had four hits and three runs batted in, and Kevin Brown pitched a complete game at Detroit to help the Rangers hand Tim Belcher his career-worst fifth consecutive loss.

Brown gave up eight hits, including home runs by Mickey Tettleton and Tony Phillips, struck out eight and walked one.

Belcher (0-5), who lost four consecutive games in 1989 while pitching for the Dodgers, gave up six runs on nine hits and walked three in 4 2/3 innings.

Chicago 12, Cleveland 1--Alex Fernandez gave up six hits in eight innings and Frank Thomas hit a three-run homer for the White Sox at Chicago.

Fernandez (3-3) gave up a leadoff homer to Jim Thome in the eighth, ending his scoreless streak of 19 consecutive innings. Fernandez, who has two shutouts this season, walked none and struck out five.

Tim Raines had three hits, and Robin Ventura had three hits and two runs batted in for the White Sox.

Milwaukee 7, Minnesota 6--Greg Vaughn, who made the final out in Scott Erickson’s no-hitter last week, drove in five runs with a homer and double as the Brewers rocked Erickson at Milwaukee.

Erickson (2-4) gave up nine hits and seven runs in five innings. Erickson, who led the major leagues in hits given up and losses in 1993 and brought a 7.48 earned-run average into last Wednesday’s 6-0 victory over the Brewers, hasn’t won consecutive decisions since September 1992.