AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : O’Neill (.471) Powers Yankees Over Indians

Paul O’Neill homered twice and doubled Tuesday night, raising his batting average to .471 and helping the New York Yankees to a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians at New York.

O’Neill leads the majors in hitting and on-base percentage (.578). He had solo homers in the second and eighth innings.

The Yankees, who have won five in a row, lead the majors with a 21-10 record. It’s the first time since July of 1987 that they have had the best record in baseball this late in a season.

Detroit 10, Oakland 2--Mickey Tettleton hit a three-run homer during a five-run first inning at Detroit, helping send the A’s to their 18th loss in 20 games.

Oakland starter Todd Van Poppel (0-4) left the game in the second inning after a line drive off the bat of Tony Phillips struck him on the left thigh. Van Poppel gave up four hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings.

Chicago 16, Seattle 2--Robin Ventura, Joey Cora and Frank Thomas homered, and seldom-used Scott Sanderson pitched seven strong innings at Chicago.

Cora had four runs batted in for the White Sox, who had 18 hits.

Sanderson (3-0), the No. 5 man in Chicago’s rotation, was making only his fourth start of the season and his first since April 27.

Minnesota 7, Kansas City 4--Shane Mack hit a three-run homer and rookie Carlos Pulido recorded his first major league victory at Kansas City.

Pulido, who made his major league debut April 9, went into the game with an 0-3 record and a 7.36 earned-run average, but he shut out the Royals through the first five innings until his error led to a run in the sixth.

Milwaukee 9, Boston 5--Two wild pitches by Greg Harris sent home the tying and go-ahead runs in a six-run seventh inning that carried the Brewers at Boston.

Boston led, 5-2, before reliever Scott Bankhead got into trouble in the seventh. He retired leadoff hitter Jody Reed before giving up a run on singles by Jose Valentin and Matt Mieske and a double by Bill Spiers.

Harris (1-3) replaced Bankhead and loaded the bases by walking Turner Ward. Alex Diaz’s single made the score 5-4, and Dave Nilsson then struck out swinging at a pitch in the dirt that got past catcher Damon Berryhill. Spiers scored on the play.

Two pitches later, Harris fired the ball past Berryhill again, allowing Ward to race home.

Baltimore 6, Toronto 3--Mike Oquist pitched five innings of hitless relief at Baltimore for his first major league victory.

Cal Ripken homered and drove in two runs for the Orioles, who have won 10 of 13. Chris Hoiles and Leo Gomez also had two RBIs.