AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : McDowell Keeps Yankees in Race

Jack McDowell, pitching on three days’ rest, threw a six-hitter and Randy Velarde hit a two-run double during a four-run sixth inning Wednesday night as the Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners, 4-3, at New York.

McDowell (13-10) struck out nine and walked three, pitching his seventh complete game in 27 starts. He raised his record against the Mariners to 10-1.

New York moved within 1 1/2 games of Seattle and Kansas City in the wild-card race.

Tim Belcher (9-10) held the Yankees to three hits over the first five innings, but third baseman Doug Strange misplayed Dion James leadoff grounder for an error in the four-run sixth.

Boston 8, Oakland 2--Roger Clemens had a season-high 10 strikeouts, allowed two hits after the first inning and won his fifth consecutive decision as the Red Sox beat the Athletics at Boston.

The Red Sox’s fifth win in a row reduced their magic number for clinching the East title to eight. Boston swept the two-game series, hurting Oakland’s slim wild-card chances. The A’s started the game in sixth place in the race, four games behind Kansas City. They have 21 games left.

Clemens (8-4) allowed four hits and four walks in eight innings. He is 5-0 with a 2.06 earned-run average since the end of July, lowering his ERA to 4.02.

Minnesota 9, Detroit 1--Rookie Frank Rodriguez allowed three hits over seven innings, to lead the Twins at Minneapolis.

Marty Cordova’s run-scoring infield hit broke a 1-1 tie in a six-run sixth inning that came after Tiger starter Jose Lima had held the Twins to one hit up to that point before a crowd of only 2,742.

Cleveland 12, Milwaukee 2--Albert Belle hit his major league-leading 36th homer that capped a seven-run second inning for the Indians at Milwaukee.

Manny Ramirez also hit his 31st homer as the Indians won for the 12th time in 14 games and sent the slumping Brewers to their ninth loss in 10 games. The Indians lowered their magic number for clinching the division to three.

Chicago 7, Texas 5--Lance Johnson hit his career-high 10th homer in the sixth inning at Arlington, Tex., to help the White Sox stretch their winning streak to eight.

The White Sox scored four runs on five consecutive hits in the sixth off Bob Tewksbury (8-6), who allowed six runs and 12 hits in six innings.

Toronto 6, Kansas City 2--Joe Carter hit a key two-run single as the Blue Jays ended a terrible trip by defeating the Royals at Kansas City.

The defending World Series champions, eliminated from the East race on Tuesday, were 2-9 on a trip to Cleveland, Chicago and Kansas City. For a trip of eight or more games, their previous worst was 2-8 in July 1977.

Al Leiter (10-8) allowed eight hits in eight innings, struck out five and walked three.