AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : McDowell Gets Victory, Yankees Cool Indians

Jack McDowell strung two victories together for the first time this season as the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians, 9-5, Sunday night at Cleveland.

The Yankees won two of the three games in Cleveland, marking only the second time the Indians have lost a series this year. Milwaukee won two of three at Jacobs Field in late May.

McDowell (3-4) gave up five runs and 10 hits, including home runs by Jim Thome and Paul Sorrento, in seven-plus innings. He has won his last two starts after going winless for eight consecutive starts from May 3 through June 8, the longest dry spell of his career.

Paul O’Neill hit a two-run homer in the second inning, his seventh.

Detroit 10, Baltimore 8--Juan Samuel drove in four runs for the Tigers at Detroit and the Orioles lost their seventh in a row.

Lou Whitaker, Chad Curtis and John Flaherty homered as the Tigers completed a three-game sweep and won their fourth in a row.

Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson moved into third place on the career victory list with 2,158, one more than Bucky Harris.

Baltimore’s Mike Mussina (5-5) gave up six runs in the shortest start of his career. He was chased after the first two batters reached in the second inning.

Toronto 7, Texas 2--Roberto Alomar hit a bases-loaded triple during a six-run fourth inning at Toronto.

Juan Guzman (1-2), on the disabled list earlier this season because of shoulder problems, won for the first time since Aug. 5. He pitched five innings and gave up two runs on six hits.

Roger Pavlik (4-2) walked six in 3 1/3 innings, and had his four-game winning streak stopped. The Rangers had been 9-1 in games Pavlik started this season.

The Blue Jays tied the score at 2-2 in the fourth when Pavlik walked Domingo Cedeno with the bases loaded. Pavlik then said something to plate umpire Dale Ford, and Ranger Manager Johnny Oates ran onto the field to protect his pitcher. The words continued, and Oates was ejected by Ford.

Boston 4, Milwaukee 2--Tim Naehring’s homer highlighted a three-run rally in the seventh inning at Boston.

The Red Sox had scored only two runs in their previous 19 innings before bouncing back. Boston, which began the three-game series with a 7 1/2-game lead in the East, faced the prospect of ending it with a 4 1/2-game lead as Ricky Bones gave up only five hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Then Boston scored on Naehring’s third homer of the season, Chris Donnels’ sacrifice fly and Lee Tinsley’s run-scoring single.

Oakland 3, Kansas City 1--Right fielder Phil Hiatt dropped a fly ball and Jeff Montgomery threw a wild pitch, helping the Athletics rally for three runs in the eighth inning at Oakland.

Chris Haney shut out the A’s on four hits for seven innings, and Montgomery relieved to start the eighth with a 1-0 lead. Instead of getting his 200th career save, Montgomery (0-1) got the loss.

Seattle 2, Minnesota 1--Chad Kreuter’s suicide squeeze scored Rich Amaral in a close play with one out in the ninth inning at Seattle. With one out, Amaral doubled off Kevin Tapani (4-6) and stole third. Kreuter then bunted in front of the plate and catcher Matt Merullo fielded the ball, but Amaral slid under the tag.