AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Tigers Have a Week in One Inning

Gar Finnvold, still looking for his first major league victory, found out in the fourth inning he wouldn’t get it Wednesday.

He had pitched 3 1/3 innings and given up four runs for the Boston Red Sox. And that was as good as it got. Actually, Finnvold was lucky he got out early.

The Tigers sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth inning and scored 10 runs in beating Boston, 14-5, at Detroit.

Todd Frohwirth allowed six runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning in relief of Finnvold and reliever Greg Harris surrendered four runs on five hits in 2 2/3.

“Usually, if a guy in the bullpen is struggling, another guy will pick him up,” Frohwirth said. “That hasn’t been the case the last 10 days. The bullpen is getting a lot of work, but no one is getting the job done.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The fifth inning was a nightmare for Boston.

Cecil Fielder singled and moved to second when first baseman Mo Vaughn misplayed Kirk Gibson’s grounder. After Mickey Tettleton flied out, Junior Felix walked, loading the bases.

Chris Gomez doubled in Fielder and Gibson. Chad Kreuter singled in Felix and Gomez and Tony Phillips walked.

Harris relieved Frohwirth and Lou Whitaker doubled in Kreuter and Phillips. Travis Fryman singled and Fielder singled home Whitaker.

Gibson doubled in Fryman before Tettleton popped out. Felix doubled in the final two runs of the inning.

Chicago 3, Toronto 2--Mike LaValliere singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the White Sox rallied to win at Chicago.

With the White Sox trailing, 2-1, Julio Franco opened the inning with a single off reliever Darren Hall. Pinch-runner Joey Cora took third base on a single by Robin Ventura and scored on Darren Jackson’s single to tie the score.

Lance Johnson struck out before LaValliere singled up the middle, scoring Ventura with the winning run. Hall (1-2) allowed four hits in one-third of an inning.

Texas 6, New York 5--Dean Palmer doubled in two runs and scored the other in a three-run sixth inning at Arlington, Tex., that led the Rangers to their fourth victory in five games.

Darren Oliver relieved for Texas with the bases loaded and none out in the ninth inning with a 6-4 lead. He got Gerald Williams to ground into a run-scoring double play on the first pitch, then retired Bob Melvin on a foul pop for his first major league save.

Dan Smith (1-0), called up Monday night, earned his first major league victory by pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He relieved Bruce Hurst in the sixth.

Baltimore 6, Kansas City 4--Cal Ripken Jr. homered for the second game in a row and later ignited a three-run seventh inning that carried the Orioles to a victory at Kansas City.

Ripken hit his sixth homer in the third inning, giving the Orioles a 3-1 lead. Mike Macfarlane’s RBI triple helped give the Royals a 4-3 lead in the sixth.

Ripken’s two-out single sent Mark McLemore to third base in the seventh inning, from which Rafael Palmeiro knocked him in to tie the score, 4-4.

Harold Baines and Leo Gomez also had run-scoring hits.

Milwaukee 6, Oakland 1--Dave Nilsson doubled home the go-ahead run and John Jaha and Matt Mieske hit consecutive two-run doubles as the Brewers broke loose in the eighth inning to win at Oakland.

The score was tied, 1-1, when Bill Spiers led off the eighth with a single against A’s reliever Vince Horsman (0-1). After B.J. Surhoff sacrificed, Mark Acre relieved and walked Greg Vaughn.

Spiers scored when Nilsson doubled to left. Brian Harper was then intentionally walked to load the bases, and Jaha doubled into the left-field corner. Mieske followed with a double to right-center.

Cleveland 5, Seattle 3--Albert Belle and rookie Manny Ramirez hit home runs as the Indians broke a nine-game losing streak at Seattle.

Mark Clark (7-1) won his fifth consecutive decision.