AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Vintage Blue Jays Show How to Win

Suddenly, success is coming in bunches to the Toronto Blue Jays. There are victories, six in a row after an early season mostly spent floundering.

And there are home runs, most of them hit by Paul Molitor. He hit a two-run homer in a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night at Toronto and has three two-run homers in his last four at-bats. Molitor has three hits in each of his last three games.

The beneficiary of Molitor’s power was Dave Stewart, who pitched a four-hit shutout for eight innings.

“Those guys are winners and have been winners all their lives. I have a lot of respect for those two guys. So do their teammates and the rest of the league as well,” Blue Jay Manager Cito Gaston said. “They’re two 37-year-olds, and two great 37-year-old baseball players.”

Stewart (7-8) matched his longest outing of the season, striking out four and walking one for his first victory at home since May 18. Darren Hall gave up Jose Canseco’s 26th homer and a run-scoring infield single by Doug Strange in pitching the ninth inning for a save after Stewart strained a groin muscle covering first base.

Stewart is 2-0 in three starts against the Rangers this season, yielding only two runs and 15 hits over 22 innings.

“I’ve faced Stewart a few times the last couple of weeks and he’s got his excellent fastball back,” Canseco, his former teammate with Oakland, said. “It’s just like the Stew of old. He’s mentally tough and knows how to pitch to certain hitters.”

Cleveland 9, Chicago 8--Jim Thome hit three of the Indians’ six home runs and Albert Belle homered for the fourth game in a row in a victory at Cleveland.

The Indians’ power surge stopped Chicago’s five-game winning streak and drew Cleveland within two games of the first-place White Sox in the Central Division. The teams do not play after this weekend.

Thome homered in each of his first three at-bats. He grounded into a double play his fourth time up.

Belle’s home run was his 30th of the season, making him the first player in Cleveland history to hit 30 three seasons in a row.

Jack Morris (9-6) won for the eighth time in his last 10 decisions,

Seattle 6, Boston 3--At home on the road in Boston, Randy Johnson gave up five hits and struck out 11 in 6 2/3 innings and Jay Buhner had three RBIs for the Mariners in the opener of a weekend series moved to Fenway Park because of falling ceiling panels in the Kingdome.

Johnson (11-5) rode a four-run third inning against Boston starter Aaron Sele (7-6) as the Mariners won for the second consecutive time after a five-game losing streak.

Detroit 5, Kansas City 2--Kirk Gibson hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning and Mike Moore scattered five hits over eight innings to lead the Tigers to a victory at Detroit.

Gibson’s home run, his 20th of the season, came off Rusty Meacham (1-3), and followed a run-scoring double by Cecil Fielder that broke a 2-2 tie.

Minnesota 6, Milwaukee 5--Jeff Reboulet hit a run-scoring double in the 13th inning at Milwaukee where the Twins snapped an 11-game road losing streak.

Scott Leius, who had homered in the fifth, doubled with one out off Jamie Navarro (3-7) in the 13th. He went to third on Matt Walbeck’s groundout and scored on Reboulet’s double off the left-field wall as the Twins also ended a five-game overall losing streak.

Baltimore 5, Oakland 4--Rafael Palmeiro and Chris Hoiles hit two-run homers in the third inning and the Orioles held on at Oakland.

Mike Mussina (14-4) pitched eight innings of seven-hit ball, but walked a career-high six.

Lee Smith pitched the ninth for his 31st save. Shortstop Cal Ripken made a diving stop of Troy Neel’s grounder with the tying run on second to end the game.