AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Hershiser Leaves Hurting, So Do Indians

Orel Hershiser’s pitching arm is sound. His back, though, is another matter.

Hershiser (5-3), enjoying a personal Renaissance in the American League, left after yielding a leadoff double to Mike Greenwell in the fourth inning of the Boston Red Sox’s 3-1 victory Wednesday night at Cleveland.

A stiff lower back was given as the reason.

“He hurt it in a workout the day after his last start,” Manager Mike Hargrove said. “It felt better as every day progressed. He said it felt ‘pitchable.’ He saw the doctor after the game and he’s going to see him again in the morning.”

Apparently, it was not “pitchable.” Hershiser gave up three runs and four hits in three-plus innings, walking one and striking out four.

It was Boston’s first victory in seven tries over two seasons in Cleveland’s Jacobs Field. The game followed a players’ meeting to determine what was going wrong with a team that had dropped seven of its last nine games, losing half of its lead in the AL East in the process.

“Basically it was just to take a look at ourselves and at all the stuff going on, on and off the field--to forget that and just examine what we were doing to make us win or lose,” said Eric Hanson (7-1), who gave up one run and struck out six in eight innings. “No doubt this was a big game for us. We got on the board early, and that was a key.”

Greenwell homered in the second inning and Mo Vaughn in the third to back Hanson, sending the Indians to only their fourth loss in the last 18 games.

Milwaukee 10, Toronto 9--Jose Valentin’s grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning at Toronto finished the Brewers’ rally.

With the Brewers trailing, 8-6, after blowing a 6-2 lead, Greg Vaughn worked reliever Woody Williams for a walk and Darryl Hamilton singled with two out. David Hulse greeted reliever Mike Timlin (3-1) with a single to load the bases, and Valentin unloaded them to give the Brewers their sixth victory in seven games away from County Stadium.

Valentin’s grand slam made a winner of Bill Wegman (1-3), who gave up one run on two hits in two innings. Mike Fetters gave up a run-scoring double to Ed Sprague in the ninth inning en route to his seventh save of the season.

New York 2, Baltimore 1--Rookie Andy Pettitte (2-4) pitched six solid innings and Paul O’Neill and Bernie Williams homered for the Yankees, who averted a three-game sweep at Baltimore.

The Yankees, who managed only six hits, won for the first time in 19 games when scoring fewer than four runs. They are 4-22 when they get less than 10 hits.

Detroit 1, Texas 0--Lou Whitaker hit the first home run given up by Bob Tewksbury (5-3) this year and the Tigers made it hold up to win at home behind Felipe Lira (4-3), who gave up five hits in eight innings.

Detroit left fielder Bobby Higginson saved the game in the seventh inning by throwing out Mike Pagliarulo at home as he was trying to score from first base on Luis Ortiz’s double.

Chicago 5, Seattle 4--John Kruk’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning scored Tim Raines and gave the White Sox a victory at home.

Tim Raines led off the 10th with a single off Bill Risley (1-1) and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Frank Thomas followed with a single to left, moving Raines to third.

Risley then walked Norberto Martin to load the bases for Kruk, who followed with a fly to left that scored Raines easily.

Kirk McCaskill (4-2) pitched two hitless innings for the victory.

Minnesota 3, Oakland 2--Rich Becker’s RBI single in the ninth inning gave the Twins a victory at Oakland and their first series victory of the season.

Becker singled up the middle with one out in the ninth off Jim Corsi (2-3), who has lost his last three outings. Dave Stevens (3-0) got two outs in the eighth inning and Rick Aguilera pitched the ninth for his 10th save.

It was the first game the Twins, who have the highest staff ERA in the major leagues, have won by scoring fewer than four runs.

Craig Paquette’s second solo homer of the game for the A’s tied the game, 2-2, in the eighth inning.