AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Ripken Needs 99 More for Gehrig Record

Cal Ripken celebrated his 2,032nd consecutive game by breaking an 0-for-14 slump with a two-run triple and Kevin Brown pitched a four-hitter for the Orioles in an 8-1 victory Tuesday night in Oakland.

Ripken moved within double digits of breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games streak. He needs to play in 99 more in a row to break Gehrig’s record of 2,130.

Brown (4-1) struck out nine, including Mark McGwire--whose hitting streak was snapped at 18 games--twice. He allowed three singles and a triple for his first complete-game victory since last July 5.

“Early on, I thought I was wishy-washy,” he said. “It felt like I was throwing underwater. I didn’t have any velocity. But it got better as the night went along.”

Brown has allowed only four walks in 38 1/3 innings, striking out 33. He broke a streak of 17 1/3 innings without allowing a base on balls by walking Geronimo Berroa in the first inning.

Rafael Palmeiro homered and drove in three runs for the Orioles. Kevin Bass added three hits and two runs batted in, and Brady Anderson had two doubles and an RBI.

The only run off Brown came in the sixth inning when seldom-used Eric Helfand hit a triple that just eluded diving left fielder Anderson and then scored on Rickey Henderson’s sacrifice fly.

Palmeiro’s eighth homer of the year, into the right-field stands, was a two-run shot in the first inning. All his homers this season have come with men on base.

Cleveland 5, Milwaukee 3--Omar Vizquel, who had gone 333 at-bats and more than a year without a home run until hitting one Monday night, hit another Tuesday for the Indians, who won at home with Dennis Martinez (4-0).

Vizquel, who has nine home runs in 827 lifetime at-bats, has hit safely in seven consecutive games.

Paul Sorrento had three hits, including two doubles, and Jim Thome homered for Cleveland, which has won 11 of 14 games. Milwaukee has dropped eight of 10.

Toronto 10, Kansas City 6--Rookie Alex Gonzalez hit his first two major league homers and drove in four runs in Toronto as the Blue Jays ended a three-game losing streak.

Toronto came up with a big seventh inning to take control.

Carlos Delgado led off the inning with a pinch-hit homer off Hipolito Pichardo (0-1) to make it 6-6. Devon White followed with a single, and one out later, Paul Molitor forced him at second. Candy Maldonado singled, sending Molitor to second, before John Olerud, Roberto Alomar and Shawn Green hit run-scoring singles.

Detroit 6, Minnesota 4--Alan Trammell’s two-run single keyed a five-run fifth inning that rallied the Tigers to a victory in Detroit in a game that was called in the bottom of the seventh after a 90-minute rain delay.

Danny Bautista homered as the Tigers overcame a 4-0 deficit and extended their season-best winning streak to four games.

Boston 5, Seattle 4--Ron Mahay walked with the bases loaded in the 10th inning at Seattle, snapping the Red Sox’s three-game losing streak.

Steve Frey (0-1), who was acquired in a trade with San Francisco on Saturday, got the first two Red Sox hitters out to open the 10th. Then he walked Mike Greenwell and Tim Naerhing before hitting Bill Haselman with a pitch to load the bases. Mahay, who was with the Red Sox as a replacement player, walked on a three-and-two pitch to score the winning run.