AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Yankees Hang On, Win, 12-11

They sailed along through six innings Thursday night in Toronto, the Blue Jays holding a three-run lead, and then the bottom dropped out.

For both teams.

In a game in which 16 runs were scored in the final three innings, the New York Yankees scored three times in the top of the ninth and held on for a 12-11 victory.

Actually, it figured to happen. The Yankees won two of the three games in a series in which there were 48 runs and 81 hits.

In the ninth inning Thursday, Danny Tartabull hit a run-scoring single and Dion James followed with a two-run double to put the Yankees ahead, 12-9.

Roberto Alomar led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer and Ed Sprague followed with a sacrifice fly before Steve Howe struck out Lance Parrish and got Devon White to ground out to second base to end the game.

Oakland 3, Seattle 1--Rickey Henderson drove in the go-ahead run for a third game in a row and Mike Harkey got his first victory for the Athletics to complete a series sweep in Oakland.

Henderson drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. He also put Oakland in front with a two-run double Wednesday and delivered a two-out, pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning to beat Seattle on Monday.

Harkey (1-1), who joined Oakland during spring training as a nonroster invitee, yielded one run and three hits in seven innings. Jim Corsi worked a scoreless eighth and Dennis Eckersley got the final three outs for his fifth save.

Detroit 8, Milwaukee 0--Sean Bergman pitched seven scoreless innings and Travis Fryman drove in four runs with two two-run singles to lead the Tigers at Milwaukee.

Bergman (1-3), who lasted only three innings in each of his previous two starts, gave up seven hits and struck out six.

Milwaukee starter Bill Wegman (0-3) failed to retire a batter, giving up four runs and five hits in the shortest start of his career.

Baltimore at Boston--The game was postponed because of rain. It will be made up Aug. 10, meaning Cal Ripken is still on track to break Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record in Baltimore on Sept. 6.