AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : His Finger Dislocated, Coles Pokes Holes in Tigers with 3 Homers

Seldom-used Darnell Coles hit three home runs a day after dislocating his finger and the Toronto Blue Jays routed the Minnesota Twins, 14-3, Tuesday night at Minneapolis.

Coles hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and solo shots in the eighth and ninth. He had the second three-homer game of his career, having done it in 1987 with Pittsburgh. He became the sixth player this season to homer three times in a game.

Coles dislocated the little finger on his left hand Monday night in Kansas City. He began the game batting only .145 with one home run and six runs batted in.

Oakland 8, New York 7--Geronimo Berroa hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Greg Harris in the seventh inning at New York.

Ruben Sierra also homered for the Athletics, who won for the 10th time in 11 games.

Berroa’s 10th homer of the season helped Oakland overcome a 7-6 deficit. Bob Welch (2-5) allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings. Dennis Eckersley relieved with runners on first and second and one out in the eighth and got Wade Boggs and Paul O’Neill on called third strikes.

O’Neill, who went four for five and raised his average to .373, was ejected for arguing the called third strike.

Eckersley also pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 17 chances.

Baltimore 5, Seattle 2--Jamie Moyer finally got what he deserved--a victory. Moyer won his first decision since May 25, Cal Ripken drove in two runs and Brady Anderson homered at Baltimore.

Moyer (3-6) allowed two runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out five. The left-hander had won only one of his previous 13 starts since April 19, although the drought wasn’t completely his fault. In six of those games he gave up three or fewer runs.

Ken Griffey Jr. had his second successive hitless game for Seattle and has gone a season-high 10 consecutive games without a homer. He still leads the majors with 32 home runs.

Texas 4, Cleveland 3--Kevin Brown, who spent the morning with his ailing father in Georgia, tied a career high with 10 strikeouts at Arlington.

Brown left the team Monday to be with his father, Gerald, who had a heart attack at home. There were doubts that Brown would make it back for his start, but he took an afternoon flight to Texas to take his regular turn in the rotation.

Brown (6-8) gave up seven hits and walked one in his second complete game of the season. It was his first victory since June 10.

Texas overcame three errors by third baseman Dean Palmer and won for the fifth time in six games. The Rangers ended Cleveland’s five-game winning streak.

Kansas City 10, Milwaukee 5--Bob Hamelin drove in three runs with a homer and one of the Royals’ four doubles at Kansas City as Bill Wegman lost for the first time this season.

Wegman (6-1) was stopped one victory short of the Brewers’ record for consecutive victories to open a season. Milwaukee had six doubles, and the combined 10 doubles were one short of the Royals’ record for one game.

Rusty Meacham (1-1) got the victory in relief of Mark Gubicza, his first since beating the Brewers 8-7 on June 6, 1993.

Detroit 6-4, Chicago 2-6--Frank Thomas hit his 30th home run and Jack McDowell struck out a career-high 11 as the White Sox won the second game to split a doubleheader at Detroit. The Tigers won the opener as Cecil Fielder and Tony Phillips homered in a four-run first inning.

McDowell (6-7) set a personal best for strikeouts, despite pitching only six innings. He gave up four runs, two of them earned, on six hits and is 4-0 in his last seven starts.

The victory in the opener was only the third for the Tigers in 13 games and broke Chicago’s four-game road winning streak.

David Wells (2-5), who pitched his second complete game of the season, won for the first time since April 10, a span of six starts. He gave up eight hits, walked none and struck out two.

Scott Sanderson (7-3) saw his three-game winning streak end.