AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : White Sox Sweep Slumping Indians

There has been so little for the Chicago White Sox to feel good about this season that sweeping the first-place Cleveland Indians brought a long-awaited sense of relief.

Not that the White Sox are ready to declare themselves back in the race. They’re still 10 games under .500 and 14 1/2 games behind the Indians in the Central Division after Sunday’s 3-2 victory at Chicago.

But for three games, they played the way they thought they would all season.

“It means a lot to beat a team like that. It shows we’re not giving up. We’ll just play hard and see what happens,” said Robin Ventura, who singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth inning.

The loss extended Cleveland’s longest losing streak of the season to four games. The Indians, with baseball’s best record of 36-17, played the game under protest after a disputed pickoff play in the sixth inning.

Scott Radinsky pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save since Aug. 14, 1993. He missed the entire 1994 season because of Hodgkin’s disease.

Hargrove made his protest after Thomas was apparently picked off. Thomas doubled with one out in the sixth, but was easily tagged out after pitcher Dennis Martinez wheeled and caught him off base.

Home plate umpire Rick Reed, however, ruled that time was still out when Robin Ventura stepped into the batter’s box, and Thomas was allowed to stay on the base.

Detroit 6, Milwaukee 3--Alan Trammell hit the fifth grand slam of his career during a five-run rally in the eighth inning at Detroit.

The Tigers trailed, 3-1, when Bobby Higginson led off the eighth with a triple against Graeme Lloyd. Ron Rightnowar (1-1) relieved and gave up Travis Fryman’s run-scoring single with two outs.

Following walks to Cecil Fielder and Juan Samuel, Trammell hit a 2-2 pitch over the left-field fence.

Brian Maxcy (4-1) pitched the eighth and Mike Henneman worked the ninth for his 13th save.

Baltimore 10, Boston 1--Cal Ripken hit a three-run homer and Arthur Rhodes pitched eight strong innings at Baltimore.

Rhodes (2-2) struck out nine, matching his career high set earlier this season in Minnesota. He gave up six hits and walked two.

Jose Canseco homered for the Red Sox, his second of the year and first since being on the disabled list from May 17 to June 20.

Jeffrey Hammonds’ two-run single gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead in the first, and Ripken followed two walks with a homer in the second to make it 5-0.

It was Ripken’s sixth home run of the season.

New York 8, Toronto 2--Paul O’Neill hit a two-run triple as the Yankees swept the three-game series at New York.

Joe Carter’s eighth homer of the season put Toronto ahead, 2-0, in the first inning against Sterling Hitchcock (3-4). But Pat Hentgen (3-4) could not hold the lead, walking seven in six innings.

The Yankees scored once in the third after an error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez, and added two runs in the fourth.

O’Neill tripled past a diving Carter in left field in the fifth. Wade Boggs doubled and Dion James singled before O’Neill tripled.

The Yankees broke open the game with three runs in the eighth against Tony Castillo on run-scoring singles by Boggs, James and Don Mattingly.

Oakland 6, Texas 2--Steve Ontiveros won for the seventh time in his last eight decisions and the Athletics ended the Rangers’ seven-game home winning streak.

Ontiveros (8-2) shut out the Rangers over the first five innings until Texas scored in the sixth on consecutive doubles by Will Clark and Juan Gonzalez.

Kevin Gross, who started the night with the worst earned-run average in the league among pitchers with at least 45 innings (9.55), gave up six hits and four runs over 6 1/3 innings in what was one of his most effective starts of the season. His ERA shrank to 9.11.