AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Mariners Take Wild-Card Lead

Jay Buhner homered in his fifth consecutive game, hitting a three-run shot that capped a four-run, eighth-inning comeback, and the Mariners returned to first place by half a game over New York in the wild-card race Wednesday night with a 7-4 victory over Minnesota at Seattle.

Randy Johnson struck out 13 in seven innings but wound up with a no-decision for the Mariners.

In the eighth inning, Tino Martinez tied the score, 4-4, with a two-out, RBI double, and Buhner followed with his seventh homer in nine games and 34th overall.

Buhner homered off Dave Stevens. Pat Mahomes (4-8) was the loser.

Jeff Nelson (6-3) pitched the eighth and struck out two for the victory. Norm Charlton got his ninth save.

Rookie Jose Parra held the Mariners hitless for five innings as the Twins took a 4-0 lead. Marty Cordova hit a two-run double during a three-run third.

Johnson increased his major league-leading strikeout total to 250. He gave up four runs and six hits and two walks.

Cleveland 5, New York 0--Charles Nagy pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout in three years and Albert Belle hit his 37th home run at Cleveland as the Indians ended the Yankees’ six-game winning streak.

Detroit 5, Milwaukee 3--Lou Whitaker’s three-run homer in the ninth inning on his record-breaking night lifted the Tigers to their fifth consecutive victory.

Whitaker and Alan Trammell played in their 1,915th game together, breaking the AL record for games played by teammates of 1,914 held by George Brett and Frank White of the Kansas City Royals.

Boston 2, Baltimore 0--Tim Wakefield gave up two hits in 8 1/3 innings as the Red Sox ended a five-game losing streak, at Baltimore.

Oakland 6, Kansas City 5--Mark McGwire hit his 30th homer to lead the Athletics at Oakland. McGwire’s homer was his 268th, tying him with Reggie Jackson for first place on the Oakland career list.

Texas 3, Toronto 2--Ivan Rodriguez hit a run-scoring single in the 11th inning to lift the Rangers at Toronto.

The Rangers are a game and a half behind the Mariners and one game behind the Yankees in the wild-card race.

Toronto lost its fifth in a row. The Blue Jays have dropped six straight extra-inning games.

Will Clark led off the 11th with a single against Mike Timlin (4-3) and took third on a single to center by Juan Gonzalez.

Jeff Frye followed with a chopper to shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who threw out Clark at the plate. Rodriguez followed with a sharp grounder up the middle for his third hit of the game.