AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Orioles Prove Good for What Ails the Yankees

The New York Yankees came to Baltimore as a team on the ropes, with an American League East lead that had shrunk to one game over the hot Orioles.

Then the Yankees got well, and the Orioles cooled off. Tuesday night, New York got to baseball’s leading reliever, Lee Smith, when Wade Boggs singled in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning of a 4-3 victory.

It was the third blown save in 27 opportunities for Smith (1-1). The others came on home runs.

“We know that he’s the best in the game,” Boggs said. “If you’re going to be successful in this game and win the division, you’ve got to beat the best. That’s what we did tonight.”

The Yankees trailed, 3-2, when Daryl Boston led off the ninth inning with a pinch-hit single against Smith. After a sacrifice by Pat Kelly, Luis Polonia chopped a single off the plate that Smith fielded and threw past first for an error that allowed Boston to score and Polonia to take second.

Boggs then lined an opposite-field single to left, scoring Polonia without a throw and giving New York a second consecutive victory for the first time this month.

“I don’t think I had a chance to get him. We all know that now,” Smith said of his error. “It’s just one of those things where you do a stupid thing and then find out after the fact.”

Seattle 7, Texas 6--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 27th and 28th home runs of the season and his second, a 429-foot solo shot in the 13th inning off reliever Dan Smith, gave the Mariners a victory at Arlington, Tex.

Cleveland 7, Toronto 5--The Indians won their 13th game in a row at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field, their new home, when Eddie Murray and Albert Belle homered on consecutive pitches in the eighth inning.

The victory, coupled with Chicago’s loss to Oakland, left the Indians alone in first place in the AL Central, the latest they have been alone in first since July 6, 1974.

Minnesota 5, Boston 4--The Twins won their sixth consecutive game and sent the Red Sox to their sixth consecutive defeat, taking advantage of three errors at Boston.

Minnesota scored unearned runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Dave Winfield broke a 4-4 tie in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.

The Red Sox lost their eighth in a row at Fenway Park.

Oakland 5, Chicago 2--Steve Ontiveros pitched one-hit ball for seven shutout innings for the Athletics at Chicago.

Ontiveros (2-2) gave up a leadoff single to right field by Julio Franco in the second inning, then retired the next 18 batters.

Detroit 10, Milwaukee 8--Travis Fryman’s three-run double in the 13th inning gave the Tigers a 9-6 lead and they held on at Milwaukee.

Fryman went four for six with four runs batted in and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games.