AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Puckett Passes Carew on the Twins’ Hit List

Kirby Puckett, who had three hits, including a homer, became the Minnesota Twins’ career hit leader Sunday in an 11-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Minneapolis.

Puckett has 2,088 hits in 11 seasons with the Twins and has moved past Rod Carew, who had 2,085 in 12 seasons with Minnesota.

“Rodney was definitely an idol of mine,” Puckett said. “He taught me a lot about hitting. He was a first baseman for the Angels when I came up, and I talked to him every chance I could about hitting.”

Wade Boggs is the only other major leaguer who has had more than 2,000 hits in the last 11 years. Boggs began the day with 2,016.

Puckett passed Carew with a two-run homer in the first inning, a 438-foot shot to center.

Oakland 10, Detroit 5--Ron Darling saw something new in this game at Oakland--teammates scoring.

Troy Neel hit a two-run single and Mike Bordick’s two-run double highlighted Oakland’s seven-run first inning.

The A’s, who have won 10 of their last 12, began the game tied for last in the American League in runs. They had been averaging only three runs per game in Darling’s 15 starts.

Darling gave up six hits over seven innings as the A’s swept the three-game series and handed the Tigers their fourth consecutive loss.

Chicago 8, Seattle 7--Reliever Jose DeLeon struck out Jay Buhner with the bases loaded to end the game at Seattle and give the White Sox their sixth consecutive victory.

Tim Raines and Julio Franco hit RBI singles in the eighth inning for the White Sox, who trimmed Cleveland’s lead in the American League Central to two games. They swept a four-game series in the Kingdome for the first time.

Milwaukee 5, Boston 4--Dave Nilsson, despite an injured right thumb, drove in three runs, including the go-ahead score in the eighth inning, for the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Nilsson has been relegated to designated-hitter duty since being injured while sliding into second base at Oakland June 8. He talked Manager Phil Garner out of putting him on the disabled list and has increased his batting average 18 points to .299 since the injury.

Baltimore 7, Toronto 1--Mike Mussina pitched a five-hitter and Brady Anderson homered twice as the Orioles handed the Blue Jays their eighth consecutive loss.

Mussina (11-4) pitched his third complete game to join the Yankees’ Jimmy Key as baseball’s only 11-game winners. Mussina lowered his league-leading earned-run average to 2.67.

Anderson went three for four with two solo homers for the Orioles, who have won four of their last five.

New York 12, Cleveland 11--Jim Abbott left this game at Cleveland with an 8-4 lead after six innings and then spent the late innings pacing in the clubhouse.

“My stomach was turning every which way,” said Abbott (7-5) after he got his first victory in a month.

The Yankees, who blew most of their eight-run lead in the eighth inning, won their fifth in a row overall and their eighth in a row against Cleveland.