AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians Are Cooking at Home

The Cleveland Indians have been able to call Jacobs Field home for only 18 games now, but it has already become an advantage.

Mark Clark pitched his third complete game in his last four starts Saturday as the Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2, for their eighth consecutive home victory. It’s the first time Cleveland has won eight in a row at home since 1982. The current streak was interrupted by a 2-4 trip.

“I think I’ll just stay at home and not go on road trips,” said Clark, who is 4-0 with a 2.70 earned-run average at Jacobs Field, compared with 1-1 and 7.32 on the road.

The A’s lost for the 30th time in their last 36 games.

Carlos Baerga homered and Paul Sorrento, Kenny Lofton and Alvaro Espinoza also drove in runs for Cleveland, and Clark blanked the A’s on three hits until the seventh inning.

Chicago 6, Baltimore 2--Frank Thomas homered for the fourth consecutive game to help the White Sox win their seventh in a row.

Thomas, batting .466 in May, hit his 19th homer and Julio Franco drove in three runs as the White Sox won for the 10th time in 11 games before 43,589, the largest crowd in four seasons at the new Comiskey Park.

Jason Bere (6-1) gave up three hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings in besting Baltimore’s Ben McDonald (8-3), who gave up three runs and four hits in 2 2/3 innings--his shortest outing this season.

Milwaukee 7, Seattle 5--B.J. Surhoff drove in three runs and Ricky Bones snapped a month-long losing skid for the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 22nd homer in the ninth inning for Seattle, which lost for the 19th time in 24 road games.

Bones (4-4), who last won on April 24 against Kansas City, gave up six hits in eight-plus innings. He retired 11 batters in a row during one stretch.

Boston 3, Texas 2--Carlos Rodriguez doubled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning as the Red Sox won at Arlington, Tex.

Boston, held hitless by former Red Sox Bruce Hurst until Mo Vaughn homered with one out in the sixth inning, tied it in the ninth on Mike Greenwell’s double off Rick Honeycutt.

Cooper led off the 10th with a single against Cris Carpenter (2-2). Cooper moved to second on Dave Valle’s sacrifice bunt and scored when Rodriguez doubled down the right-field line.

Hurst, trying for his first major league victory since 1992, allowed one run and two hits in 6 2/3 innings.

New York 5, Kansas City 3--Three pitches after accidentally hitting plate umpire Dave Phillips with his bat and causing a concussion, Jim Leyritz hit a home run in the 10th inning to give the Yankees a victory at Kansas City.

Pinch-hitter Daryl Boston’s two-run homer against Royal closer Jeff Montgomery (0-2) tied it in the ninth. The Yankees won their fourth in a row.

Leyritz hit Phillips in the head with his backswing, and the umpire sustained a mild concussion and bruised left temple. He left the game but is expected to be ready to work today.

Xavier Hernandez (3-2) got the victory. Steve Howe pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Minnesota 10, Detroit 9--Rookie Steve Dunn’s two-out RBI double in the 10th inning at Minneapolis gave the Twins a victory over the Tigers, who got two homers from Kirk Gibson.

Gibson, celebrating his 37th birthday, homered in the seventh and ninth innings for Detroit, which rallied from an 8-2 deficit to take the lead before the Twins tied it at, 9-9, in the ninth.

In the 10th, Dunn drove a Mike Henneman (1-1) pitch into right field to score Dave Winfield.