AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Another Royal Game Lets Appier Win 5th

Kevin Appier hinted what kind of season he might have when he no-hit Baltimore for 6 2/3 innings on opening day.

What Kansas City didn’t know is how much it would depend on him.

Appier became the American League’s first five-game winner Monday, yielding two hits in seven innings and lowering his earned-run average to 1.98 as the Royals won at Toronto, 7-0.

He was only 7-6 last season in 23 starts. Now he has half of Kansas City’s 10 victories.

“He’s been pretty dominating every time out, so I’m trying to figure out a way to get him into a three-man rotation,” Royal Manager Bob Boone joked.

Appier (5-1) gave up two singles, one an infield hit. He struck out seven and allowed only three balls beyond the infield.

“All my stuff was working well,” he said. “I had a really good fastball and my control was pretty good.”

Hipolito Pichardo finished with hitless relief as Kansas City stopped a three-game losing streak. Wally Joyner drove in three runs for the Royals.

Danny Darwin (1-3) gave up six runs and 10 hits in six innings for the Blue Jays, who have lost eight of their last 11 games.

“Pitching is a concern, and we haven’t been hitting the ball well the past couple of days,” Toronto Manager Cito Gaston said.

Detroit 10, Seattle 8--Kirk Gibson broke a seventh-inning tie with a two-run homer and Cecil Fielder hit his eighth grand slam for the Tigers, who won at Detroit.

Gibson’s homer came off Rafael Carmona (0-1) and followed a walk to Fielder, who had hit his grand slam in the first inning in helping Detroit to a 7-1 lead.

Seattle came back with six runs in the third inning to take an 8-7 lead. That it didn’t last angered Mariner Manager Lou Piniella.

“I’m tired of making explanations,” he said. “I can make all the explanations and excuses in here I want. Where it has to be done is out there, not in here.”

Joe Boever (3-0) won for the second day in a row, pitching 2 1/3 innings. Mike Henneman pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Mariner starter Bob Wells gave up first-inning singles to Chad Curtis and Scott Fletcher, and walked Franklin Stubbs. Fielder launched a ball into the right-field upper deck for his grand slam.

Milwaukee 7, Cleveland 5--Fernando Vina, who took a .148 batting average into the game, had three hits, scored three times and drove in a run for the Brewers, who stepped in front of a little Indian nostalgia at Cleveland.

Milwaukee, winning for only the second time in nine games, stopped the Indians’ three-game winning streak and prevented their stretching their first-place lead in the AL Central to six games for the first time since 1954.

Winner Ricky Bones (3-1) gave up four hits--two of them home runs--and four runs in seven innings and retired the last eight batters he faced.

AL Notes

The Texas Rangers will send outfielder Juan Gonzalez to extended spring training in Port Charlotte, Fla., to continue rehabilitating his back. . . . The Milwaukee Brewers placed first baseman John Jaha on the 15-day disabled list because of a left groin pull. Pitcher Scott Karl was called up from double-A New Orleans. . . . The Cleveland Indians activated right-handed relief pitcher Paul Shuey off the 15-day disabled list and assigned him to triple-A Buffalo. . . . An arbitration panel ruled in favor of the Chicago White Sox, who will pay pitcher Alex Fernandez $3.25 million this season instead of the $3.9 million he asked.