AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Ripken Needs 99 More to Break Gehrig’s Record

Cal Ripken celebrated moving within double digits of breaking Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played with a two-run triple and Kevin Brown pitched a four-hitter for the Baltimore Orioles in an 8-1 victory at Oakland on Tuesday night.

Ripken played in his 2,032nd game in a row, 98 behind Gehrig’s 2,130. Ninety-nine more will give him the record.

Brown (4-1) got plenty of support early and coasted, along the way snapping Mark McGwire’s hitting streak at 18 games, longest in the majors this year, by striking him out twice, walking him and inducing him to foul out.

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

“One of the biggest things working for me was the offense,” Brown said. “It’s nice to get that big lead early. It makes a big difference.”

Brown struck out nine and gave up three singles and a sixth-inning triple by Eric Helfand that just eluded diving left fielder Brady Anderson. Helfand scored on Rickey Henderson’s sacrifice fly.

Ripken broke an 0-for-14 slump with his two-run triple into the right-center gap in the sixth inning, moving past Eddie Murray into second place on the Orioles’ lifetime list with 1,192 RBIs.

Kevin Bass added three hits and two RBIs for Baltimore, and Anderson had two doubles and an RBI.

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.

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.

Reliever Mike Timlin (2-0) picked up the victory despite allowing the Royals to take a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning. After Tony Castillo walked the bases loaded, Timlin hit Garry Gaetti with a pitch to force in a run.

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.

David Wells (2-3) survived a shaky third inning for the victory, giving the Detroit bullpen a much-needed rest by going seven innings.

Boston 5, Seattle 4--Ron Mahay walked with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to give the Boston the victory in Seattle, ending a three-game losing streak by the AL East leaders.