AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians’ Summer Has No Dog Days

By now, traditionally, the Cleveland Indians are in baseball’s dog days of August, resigned to playing the role of spoiler at places such as Toronto, where pennant races have become the norm.

But in these confusing times, when everyone wonders how long the season will last, the Indians are adding to the turmoil. They are in a pennant race, and helped themselves Monday night with a 6-1 victory at Toronto.

There are no dog days with a strike looming on Friday.

“We can’t think about the past,” said Kenny Lofton, who paced an 11-hit attack with three hits, including a leadoff triple. “All we’ve got to concern ourselves with is winning the next two games.”

The past includes being beaten and beaten up by the Blue Jays as Cleveland’s season waned.

“I don’t think we’re looking for any retribution,” Indians’ Manager Mike Hargrove said. “All I can say is being in a pennant race sure beats the hell out of losing.”

Charles Nagy (10-8) held the Blue Jays to a run on six hits over seven innings.

Chicago 2, Oakland 1--Tim Raines singled home Ozzie Guillen with one out in the ninth inning to give the White Sox a victory at Oakland and maintain Chicago’s one-game lead over Cleveland in the Central.

Seattle 14, Texas 4--Tino Martinez drove in a career-high six runs, Jay Buhner added three RBIs and Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 39th homer as the Mariners’ tour of the American League reached Arlington, Tex.

Griffey is hitting .556 (20 for 36) with eight homers and 20 RBI against the Rangers.

Seattle is on a 32-day, 30-game trip, extended because of structural problems in the Kingdome.

New York 6, Baltimore 5--Randy Velarde singled home the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning at New York, stopping Baltimore’s winning streak at three games.

Mark Eichhorn (6-5) retired the first two batters in the 11th before walking Luis Polonia. Danny Tartabull was hit by a pitch and Velarde looped a single to right-center.

Steve Howe (3-0), the fifth Yankee pitcher, was the winner.

Minnesota 5, Boston 2--Kevin Tapani (11-7) pitched seven strong innings and Matt Walbeck capped a three-run rally sixth inning with a two-run single at Minneapolis.

Ricky Trlicek (1-1), making his first major league start, gave up three runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Milwaukee 12, Detroit 4--Three-run homers by John Jaha and Jeff Cirillo highlighted a 10-run seventh inning as the Brewers won at Detroit.

Angel Miranda (2-5) ended a five-game losing streak. He pitched six innings, giving up three runs on eight hits.