AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Morris Struggles, Still Keeps Indians on Track

The attitude was vintage Jack Morris, regardless of how the box score looked.

Backed by four home runs, Morris won his third consecutive decision as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Oakland Athletics, 7-5, Sunday for their ninth consecutive home victory.

The streak is the Indians’ best at home since they won 13 in a row at Cleveland Stadium in 1965. The current streak was interrupted by a 2-4 trip.

“Jack struggled,” Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove said. “He fought himself all day. He gave us five innings on pure guts.”

Morris (4-4) gave up four runs--one of them unearned--and seven hits in five innings, striking out four and walking three. He also threw two wild pitches and made a throwing error that gave Oakland a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning.

Even so, he improved to 3-1 with a 2.72 earned-run average in his last five starts.

Rookie Paul Shuey, Cleveland’s fourth pitcher, gave up Brent Gates’ run-scoring double in the ninth but held on for his second save.

Morris left the clubhouse before reporters arrived.

Oakland, swept in a series for the 10th time this year, has lost four in a row and 31 of its last 37 games.

Kansas City 10, New York 6--Vince Coleman tripled twice, singled twice and drove in three runs at Kansas City as the Royals stopped the Yankees’ four-game winning streak.

Coleman tied a team record for triples in a game. He has 10 hits in his last 23 at-bats after a three-for-25 slump.

Umpire Dave Phillips, who sustained a mild concussion Saturday night when he was hit in the head by Jim Leyritz’s bat on the backswing, missed the game. A crew of three umpires was used.

Mark Gubicza (3-4) ended his six-game losing streak against the Yankees.

Baltimore 8, Chicago 4--Sid Fernandez held the White Sox to five hits--including Frank Thomas’ 20th homer--in seven-plus innings at Chicago and the Orioles stopped the White Sox’s winning streak at seven.

Fernandez (3-2) gave up three hits over seven innings before yielding a leadoff single to Ozzie Guillen in the eighth and a home run to Tim Raines, his seventh.

Thomas, who has homered in five consecutive games, homered with one out in the fourth to reach 20 homers faster than any White Sox player in history. Dick Allen hit his 20th home run in his 75th game in 1974. Thomas, batting .468 in May, hit No. 20 in his 46th game.

Texas 8, Boston 6--Dean Palmer hit a three-run homer and Ivan Rodriguez homered two pitches later, highlighting the Rangers’ five-run rally with two out in the fifth inning at Arlington, Tex.

Juan Gonzalez of Texas and Mike Greenwell of Boston were injured on the same play in the third inning. Gonzalez hurt his right knee fielding a double by Greenwell, who hurt his hip running to second. Both players soon left the game, although neither injury was serious.

Milwaukee 9, Seattle 8--Greg Vaughn hit a 415-foot, two-run homer in the four-run sixth as the Brewers rallied from a seven-run deficit at Milwaukee.

Milwaukee swept the three-game series after losing a club-record 14 in a row.

Seattle, which had gotten six runs with two outs off Teddy Higuera in the first inning and led, 7-0, in the second, lost for the 20th time in 25 road games.

Detroit 5, Minnesota 1--Bill Gullickson gave up one run in seven innings at Minneapolis as the Tigers held an opponent to less than two runs for the first time this season.

Gullickson (3-4), who had compiled a 9.82 ERA in losing his previous three starts, gave up eight hits. He entered the game having given up 79 hits in 50 1/3 innings.