AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : On Off Day, McDonald Improves To 7-0

Ben McDonald didn’t have much on his fastball and couldn’t get his curve over the plate. This year, though, good fortune finally seems to be on his side.

McDonald struggled in becoming baseball’s first seven-game winner, and Mike Devereaux homered and drove in four runs as the Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-6, Sunday at Baltimore.

McDonald (7-0) allowed six runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. He retired the first 12 batters, then allowed 11 of the next 18 to reach base in his worst outing.

“I’ve been pretty good this year, but today was a different story,” he said. “I tricked them as long as I could with what I had, which wasn’t a whole lot.”

Baltimore, which got a three-run homer from Leo Gomez, led, 8-0, after three innings.

New York 8, Boston 4--Danny Tartabull, Mike Stanley and Gerald Williams hit consecutive home runs in the sixth inning at New York as the Yankees sent the Red Sox to their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Stanley homered twice as New York completed its first three-game sweep of the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium since June 14-16, 1982.

Mo Vaughn homered twice for the Red Sox, giving him three in two games and nine this season.

Tartabull’s lead-off homer into the center field bleachers in the sixth inning was only the 10th ball hit there since Yankee Stadium reopened in 1976.

Toronto 3, Milwaukee 1--The Blue Jays’ Pat Hentgen is so hot he doesn’t even miss with his predictions. “I told Darren (Hall) before the game that I was going to get the win and he would get the save for me,” Hentgen said after allowing six hits in 8 2/3 innings as the Blue Jays won at Toronto.

Hentgen (5-2) struck out nine, giving him an American League-leading 49. He walked three, including John Jaha with two outs in the ninth inning.

Hall then came on with a 1-and-0 count on pinch-hitter Tom Brunansky and struck him out for the first save of his career.

Minnesota 5, Texas 2--Dave Winfield broke a sixth-inning tie with a two-run, two-out homer and Scott Erickson scattered seven hits in his second complete game as the Twins won at Arlington, Tex.

Winfield, 42, hit his 456th homer, off Kevin Brown (2-5), after Alex Cole led off with a single. The 407-foot drive was the third of the season for Winfield, 18th on the all-time home run list.

Erickson (3-4) struck out six and walked two as the Twins won for the fifth time in seven games. His other complete game was a no-hitter against Milwaukee on April 27.

Former President George Bush made his first visit to The Ballpark in Arlington and sat in the stands with his son, George W. Bush, the team’s general partner.

Seattle 4, Detroit 3--Jay Buhner had three hits, including a go-ahead homer, as the Mariners won at Detroit to end a four-game losing streak.

Dave Fleming (3-4) broke a three-game losing streak, holding the Tigers to three runs on five hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out five.

Tim Belcher (0-6) had his best start of the season, giving up four runs on eight hits in eight innings, lowering his ERA from 9.91 to 8.65.

Kansas City 9, Chicago 7--Wally Joyner hit a three-run homer and Felix Jose added a two-run homer as the Royals won at Chicago.

The White Sox committed three errors that led to three unearned runs as they fell behind, 9-3. They raised the team total to 36 errors in 29 games.