AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Pettitte Looms Large, Yankees Stop Tigers

New York rookie Andy Pettitte knew that the Detroit Tigers could hit. He had seen it first-hand two weeks earlier.

He was determined not to have a repeat performance Monday, and from the time he struck out the first batter of the game, he didn’t.

Pettitte (3-4) pitched seven scoreless innings and the Yankees extended their longest winning streak of the season to five games with a 7-3 victory over the Tigers at New York.

Pettitte, 23, shut down a team that had hit 16 home runs in its previous seven games and had won four in a row. Two weeks earlier, he wasn’t so successful, giving up 10 hits and lasting only 4 2/3 innings in Tiger Stadium.

“I got roughed up in two starts at Detroit and Cleveland,” said Pettitte, who gave up five hits, walked two and struck out four. “But being around these guys has shown me how important it is to stay on even keel.”

Cleveland 2, Kansas City 0--Chad Ogea won his fourth start in a row and helped the Indians end their longest losing streak of the season at Kansas City.

With two outs in the seventh and a runner on base, Tommy Goodwin hit a hard liner back to the mound that struck Ogea (4-0) in the belly. He left the game but was not seriously hurt.

Jim Poole replaced Ogea and got out of the inning by retiring Wally Joyner on a fly ball. Julian Tavares pitched the eighth and Jose Mesa worked the ninth for his 18th save.

Kenny Lofton scored one run and drove in the other before he left the game in the second inning because of a strained hamstring.

Boston 4, Toronto 3--Luis Alicea’s single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Red Sox a victory over the slumping Blue Jays after blowing a three-run lead in the top of the inning at Boston.

Mike Greenwell was hit by a pitch from Tony Castillo (0-2) to start the inning. After two fly outs to center, Greenwell stole second and scored on Alicea’s line single. Left fielder Candy Maldonado fielded the ball and had a play at the plate, but he threw it over the head of catcher Lance Parrish.

Stan Belinda (5-0) got the victory after failing to protect Erik Hanson’s lead in the ninth.

Chicago 6, Minnesota 5--Frank Thomas hit a pair of two-run homers at Minneapolis to give rookie Brian Keyser his first major league victory as the White Sox extended their winning streak to a season-high four games.

Thomas homered to left-center in Chicago’s three-run fifth inning and homered to right-center for his 18th of the season to make it 6-1 in the seventh.

Keyser (1-2), making his fifth start since being recalled from triple-A Nashville, worked out of trouble several times as the White Sox followed their three-game sweep over Cleveland with a rare road victory. Chicago has the worst road record in the majors at 5-19.

Baltimore 2, Milwaukee 0--Jamie Moyer took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and allowed only two hits in 7 1/3 at Milwaukee, as the Orioles handed the Brewers their fourth consecutive loss.

Moyer (2-3) didn’t give up a hit until Jeff Cirillo lined a single to center with two outs in the sixth. In the third, Cirillo was robbed of a hit and a run batted in when third baseman Leo Gomez made a leaping grab of his line drive for the last out.

Oakland 4, Texas 3--Benji Gil’s throwing error with two outs in the ninth allowed the winning run to score as the Athletics rallied for four runs and beat the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

The Rangers made two throwing errors in the ninth, and a bad relay throw by Gil on a potential double play allowed Oakland to keep batting. Second baseman Esteban Beltre, a defensive replacement in the ninth, made the other error.