AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians Extend Their Streak, End Tigers’

The only streak Cleveland starter Charles Nagy was worried about Monday night at Detroit was his own. And he didn’t have reason to be optimistic.

Yet, Nagy pitched well and ended one streak--well, two if you count his--and continued another as the torrid Cleveland Indians defeated Detroit, 7-1, ending the Tigers’ consecutive home run string at 25 games.

Detroit shares the major league record with the 1941 New York Yankees, who also homered in 25 consecutive games.

Lou Whitaker was the only Tiger to come close to hitting a homer, lifting a fly to the edge of the warning track in the first.

“We didn’t beat the record,” Whitaker said. “But, hey, we joined some good company.”

The 1941 Yankees’ 25-game streak came during Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. DiMaggio homered 10 times during the 25-game homer streak.

It was the first time anything good had happened to Nagy (6-3) in Tiger Stadium. He was 0-2 with a 14.63 earned-run average in his previous two starts there.

Eddie Murray drove in four runs to lift the Indians to their 10th consecutive victory, their longest winning streak since 1986.

Milwaukee 6, Baltimore 5--Right-hander Bill Wegman struggled but stayed unbeaten, getting two-run homers from Greg Vaughn and Dave Nilsson in the first inning and hanging on for a victory at Baltimore.

Wegman (5-0) now has more wins--in 10 starts--than he had in 1993, when he was 4-14 in an injury-plagued season. He went 5 1/3 innings, gave up four runs on eight hits, and walked five and struck out two.

Vaughn’s 15th homer--and third in three at-bats--came against Jamie Moyer (2-5). Vaughn, who homered in his last two at-bats at New York Sunday, saw his streak end when he grounded into a double play in the second inning.

Boston 4, Toronto 1--The Red Sox ended their 11-game losing streak with a victory at Toronto.

Joe Hesketh (4-4) gave up three singles in seven shutout innings, stopping Boston’s longest losing string since 1932. John Valentin homered and drove in three runs.

Andre Dawson nearly brawled with Blue Jay pitcher Todd Stottlemyre. Dawson was nearly hit in the left shoulder by a pitch from Stottlemyre (5-4) in the sixth, shortly after Valentin homered. Dawson picked up the ball and threw it over Stottlemyre’s head into center field.

The next time up, in the eighth, Dawson was hit on the left elbow by a pitch from Stottlemyre. Dawson took a couple of steps toward the mound but stopped as the benches emptied.

Stottlemyre was ejected by plate umpire Rick Reed, and threw water coolers and a large Gatorade bucket onto the field. Toronto Manager Cito Gaston also was ejected.

Texas 12, Chicago 6--Ivan Rodriguez hit a go-ahead, two-run double as the Rangers scored seven runs in the eighth inning to win at Chicago and end a six-game losing streak.

White Sox starter Jack McDowell took a 6-2 lead into the eighth, but for the third consecutive start the Cy Young winner got no decision when the bullpen couldn’t hold on.

New York 7, Minnesota 5--Pinch-hitter Daryl Boston hit Rick Aguilera’s first pitch for a three-run homer in the eighth inning to rally the Yankees at New York.

The Twins built a 5-2 lead with three runs in the sixth, when Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield homered.