AMERICAN LEAGUE : McGwire: Three Homers in a Row

Mark McGwire brought even the fans at Fenway Park to their feet.

McGwire hit three home runs in consecutive at-bats Sunday, and also tied a major league record with five homers in two consecutive games, leading the Oakland Athletics over the Boston Red Sox, 8-1.

McGwire, who leads the majors with 17 homers, connected against Zane Smith for solo shots in his first three at-bats Sunday. All three cleared the Green Monster, including a 463-foot shot and another drive that hit the light tower in left field.

“I saw the ball, I put three good swings on the ball, and they left the park. That’s all that matters to me,” McGwire said. “That, and the fact that we won.”

McGwire drew a standing ovation after his third homer. Given a chance to tie the major league record for home runs in a game, McGwire struck out swinging at a full-count pitch from Mike Maddux in the eighth inning and walked on four pitches from rookie Jeff Hudson in the ninth.

McGwire said the last time he saw an opposing player get a standing ovation was when Nolan Ryan pitched a no-hitter in Oakland.

“It feels great,” he said.

McGwire, who homered twice Saturday, became the 15th player in modern history to hit five home runs in consecutive games. He is the only American League player ever to accomplish the feat twice, while Ralph Kiner did it twice in the National League.

On June 27, 1987, at Cleveland, McGwire had the other three-homer game of his career. He hit two home runs the next day against the Indians. McGwire hit 49 homers that year, his rookie season.

“Being older now, I’m more aware of the feat and it feels better,” he said. “I feel the best I’ve ever felt in my career. My foot injuries are a thing of the past.”

Kansas City 3, Toronto 2--Jon Nunnally singled off the glove of leaping first baseman Ed Sprague with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Royals a victory at Kansas City.

Gary Gaetti drew a one-out walk and Greg Gagne walked with two outs against Darren Hall (0-2). Mike Timlin relieved, and Nunnally’s line drive scored pinch-runner Les Norman.

Hipolito Pichardo (3-1), who retired only one of seven batters in his previous outing, pitched 1 1/3 innings of two-hit relief for the victory.

Blue Jay starter David Cone, the 1994 Cy Young winner with Kansas City, pitched nine innings and struck out eight. He gave up seven hits and four walks, and threw a season-high 131 pitches.

Cone started against his longtime friend, Mark Gubicza, who gave up two runs on six hits in eight innings.

New York 10, Seattle 7--Catcher Jim Leyritz, who had four hits, singled with the bases loaded to highlight a five-run rally in the eighth inning at New York as the Yankees won for only the fifth time in 25 games.

They beat Seattle for the first time in six games this season, and prevented the Mariners from completing their first-ever three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium.

In a 3-2 loss to Seattle on Saturday, Leyritz struck out three times and committed two passed balls. One of the strikeouts came with one out in the ninth and runners on first and second. Bobby Ayala was on the mound at the time.

On Sunday, Leyritz’s fifth-inning single, which drove in the tying and go-ahead runs, came off Ayala.

“I was trying to think back to facing him here [Saturday] and I was just trying to hit something to the outfield to at least get the tying run in,” Leyritz said.

Cleveland 11, Milwaukee 5--Albert Belle, doubling three times, had four of the Indians’ 19 hits and drove in three runs at Milwaukee.

Jim Thome and Carlos Baerga each homered for the Indians, and Kenny Lofton got three hits, including a first-inning triple.

Detroit 8, Minnesota 2--John Flaherty homered twice and drove in four runs to lead the Tigers at Minneapolis.

Todd Steverson and Flaherty hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth, and Juan Samuel hit a two-run homer later in the inning off Twin reliever Dave Stevens.