AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Vaughn Is Hearty for Red Sox

In what has been a feast or famine season so far, Mo Vaughn feasted Wednesday night in Boston.

His sixth homer of the season helped the Red Sox to their fifth victory in a row, 6-2, over the Baltimore Orioles.

It was the second night in a row in which Vaughn has homered, and six of his last eight hits have been home runs. The problem is that he has only 10 hits all season.

After batting .310 in 1994, he is at .204 and not happy about it.

“I’m happy for (the home runs). But you want to put some base hits in there,” he said. “Give me some four-for-four days.”

Red Sox Manager Kevin Kennedy isn’t as concerned as Vaughn.

“Before it’s all said and done, he’s going to be up around .300 or more, probably have 30-plus home runs and at least 100 RBIs,” Kennedy said. “When you get your 500 at-bats, all the good athletes will get their numbers.”

Lee Tinsley also hit a two-run homer to extend his American League-leading hitting streak to 13 games. He is batting .418 and has moved from eighth to leadoff in the batting order.

Boston’s Erik Hanson (2-0) went five innings, taking a one-hitter into the fifth before giving up two runs on three hits and an error.

New York 6, Toronto 4--Bernie Williams hit a two-run home run in the 11th inning at Toronto, ending the Yankees’ three-game losing skid.

Mike Stanley led off the inning with a walk off Woody Williams (0-1). Williams followed with his second home run of the season, sending a 2-and-1 pitch over the wall in right field.

John Wetteland (1-0) worked three innings to win. He blew his first save in six opportunities when he gave up Ed Sprague’s second homer of the game, tying the score, 4-4, in the ninth.

Chicago 8, Minnesota 7--Pinch-hitter Chris Sabo’s two-run homer in the eighth inning at Chicago completed a three-game sweep for the White Sox.

Sabo’s first pinch-hit homer came off Mark Guthrie (1-2) and followed a single by Ray Durham as the White Sox won for the fourth time in five games. Durham had three hits and four RBIs.

Minnesota’s Jerald Clark tied the score with a pinch-hit homer in the top of the eighth off Scott Radinsky, and Scott Leius’ sacrifice fly off Kirk McCaskill (1-1) put the Twins ahead, 7-6.

Detroit 4-2, Milwaukee 2-13--Alan Trammell’s two-run double in the 10th inning lifted the Tigers in the first game, which took 22 minutes to complete a rain-halted affair the night before. It also broke the Tiger losing streak at three games.

They promptly started another losing streak in the regularly scheduled game at Milwaukee, where the Brewers scored seven times in the fourth inning on a cold, rainy night in which 7,129, the smallest gathering at County Stadium in four years, attended.

Cleveland 3, Kansas City 2--Manny Ramirez lined an RBI single to center field with one out in the 10th inning at Cleveland, where Carlos Baerga scored on a close play at home to give the Indians their fourth victory in a row.

Baerga started the Cleveland 10th with a double off Rusty Meacham (1-2), the Royals’ fourth pitcher. After Albert Belle lined out, Eddie Murray was walked intentionally.

Center fielder Tom Goodwin grabbed Ramirez’s hit on the run, and the throw arrived on one bounce to catcher Pat Borders, who missed the ball as he tried to sweep a tag on the sliding Baerga.

Oakland 7, Seattle 4--Steve Ontiveros reached a settlement on a new contract, then checked the Mariners on five hits for 7 2/3 innings at Oakland.

Mark McGwire, Scott Brosius and Ruben Sierra homered for the Athletics, and Rickey Henderson, whose ninth-inning pinch-hit homer beat Seattle on Tuesday, broke a tie with a two-run double in the fourth inning that put Oakland up, 5-3.

Ontiveros (2-1) gave up four runs after allowing seven in his last outing. He struck out five.