AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians Have Last Laugh, 4-3

Eddie Murray led off the bottom of the ninth inning with his 15th home run, giving the Cleveland Indians a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night at Cleveland.

The Indians became the first team in baseball with 70 victories and increased their lead in the American League Central to 18 games. They have won 20 games in their last at-bat.

“That’s exciting. I’m sure the people are enjoying it a lot more than we are,” Murray said. “I mean, we’re glad to win these games, but we’d like to win them earlier.”

Murray, batting left-handed, sent a 2-and-0 pitch from Bill Wegman (5-5) into the stands in right field, making a winner of Eric Plunk (6-2), Cleveland’s fifth pitcher. He struck out three of the five batters he faced.

Murray has 473 home runs, two away from tying Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 16th on the all-time list.

Boston 4, Seattle 3--Erik Hanson won his fourth consecutive decision and John Valentin hit his 21st home run at Seattle as the Red Sox won for the 15th time in 17 games.

Hanson (12-4) gave up three runs on three hits, struck out nine and walked four in 7 1/3 innings.

Andy Benes, acquired July 31 from San Diego, lost for the first time in the American League. He lasted only 1 2/3 innings in his fourth start for the Mariners, giving up four runs on four hits and four walks.

Toronto 5, Kansas City 4--Shawn Green’s pinch-single with two outs in the bottom of the 13th inning scored Joe Carter and the Blue Jays edged the Royals at Toronto.

Roberto Alomar led off the inning with a walk from relief pitcher Jeff Montgomery (1-2) but was erased on Carter’s fielder’s choice. John Olerud followed with a single to put runners on first and second.

Ed Sprague hit a grounder to third, with Olerud being forced on a throw to second base. Green, pinch-hitting for Mike Huff, then singled to left field . He had been 0 for 9 as a pinch-hitter this season.

Jimmy Rogers (1-2) pitched five shutout innings for his first major-league victory.

Texas 9, Chicago 6--Will Clark, who missed the previous four games because of back spasms, hit a three-run homer in a six-run fifth inning to lead the Rangers at Chicago.

Juan Gonzalez, activated from the disabled list Wednesday, also hit a two-run homer as the Rangers won for the eighth time in their last 11 games.

Kevin Gross (7-11) won his third consecutive start, giving up six hits, walking three and striking out a season-high eight in 8 1/3 innings.

Rod Bolton (0-2), who was pitching on three days’ rest, held the Rangers to one hit over four innings, but Texas sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth and scored six runs--all with two outs.

Minnesota 9, Detroit 5--Ron Coomer and Chuck Knoblauch homered during a four-run third inning and Brad Radke settled down from a shaky start at Detroit.

The Tigers took a 3-0 lead with four consecutive hits in the first, but Radke (9-11) retired the next 15 batters.

By the time Travis Fryman ended Detroit’s drought with a one-out single in the sixth inning, Minnesota had taken a 7-3 lead.

Radke went 7 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

Pat Mahomes pitched 1 2/3 innings for the first save of his career.

Baltimore 12, Oakland 6--Harold Baines homered twice, including his ninth career grand slam, and the Orioles won consecutive games for the first time since July 25-26 with a victory at Oakland.