AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians Take It to Limit Again and Beat Red Sox

It has become a habit in Cleveland, winning at Jacobs Field. No deficit seems too large to the Indians right now.

“Every game is special to us,” Carlos Baerga said Thursday night after he scored the winning run on Albert Belle’s two-run, two-out single in the ninth inning that beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-6, and stretched Cleveland’s lead in the American League Central to 1 1/2 games over Minnesota.

It was the Indians’ 15th consecutive victory at Jacobs Field, the longest home winning streak in the majors since Boston won a record 24 in a row at Fenway Park in 1988.

The Indians, whose 20-7 home record is the best in the majors, have won eight games at Jacobs Field in their final at-bat.

They did it Thursday by scoring three times against Jeff Russell (0-4).

“We’re down, we come back,” Baerga said. “One day it’s Jim Thome, one day it’s Albert, one day it’s Eddie Murray.”

The Red Sox lost their eighth consecutive game, despite two home runs from Tom Brunansky and one from Scott Cooper. Brunansky had been traded back to Boston from Milwaukee earlier in the day and was playing only because Mike Greenwell didn’t get back from a union meeting in Chicago on time.

“Tonight was a big letdown on my part,” Russell said. “It’s important for me to slam the door shut--not just for me but for the team to have confidence in me. We’re going through a pretty tough spot right now. We stuck it out through the last part of the game, and then I can’t close it out.”

The Indians haven’t lost at Jacobs Field since May 1 and have won six in a row overall.

New York 6, Baltimore 1--Jimmy Key won his career-high ninth consecutive decision and Pat Kelly homered and drove in three runs for the Yankees at Baltimore.

Wade Boggs also homered for the Yankees, his ninth of the season. He has hit more than eight only once in a 14-year career, in 1987, when he hit 24.

Key (10-1) yielded one run and eight hits in 7 2/3 innings. Unbeaten since April 9, he has three of the Yankees’ five victories in June and is 5-0 after New York losses.

Kansas City 4, Seattle 1--Wally Joyner celebrated his 32nd birthday with three hits and three RBIs in a victory at Kansas City.

Mike Magnante relieved starter Tom Gordon and got the victory with three innings of four-hit relief. Jeff Montgomery got the final four outs for his 10th save.

Seattle’s Quinn Mack, younger brother of Minnesota’s Shane Mack, made his major league debut and led off the game with a double. He also singled and hit another double.

Milwaukee 5, Detroit 4--Matt Mieske homered with one out in the ninth inning to give the Brewers the victory at Milwaukee.

Mieske also homered in the seventh inning against starter Tim Belcher to tie the score, 4-4. With the count 1-and-2, he hit a fastball off Buddy Groom for the first multi-homer game of his career.

Junior Felix hit his 10th homer, fifth in seven games. It was the 22nd consecutive game in which the Tigers have hit a homer, three short of the major league record set by the 1941 New York Yankees.

Oakland 6, Texas 4--Ruben Sierra’s run-scoring single with two out in the ninth inning gave the Athletics a victory at Arlington, Tex.

With two out, Stan Javier and Brent Gates hit infield singles off John Dettmer, making his major league debut. Jay Howell relieved and gave up Sierra’s grounder to right. Oakland added a run when Gates scored from third on a wild pitch.