Toronto’s Viola Is Roughed Up in Debut

The Cleveland Indians rocked Toronto starter Frank Viola for 10 runs in four innings Sunday en route to a 17-3 thrashing of the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Sandy Alomar hit a three-run homer and Albert Belle hit a solo shot and drove in four runs for the Indians, who reached a season-high in runs to win for the 13th time in 16 games.

Julio Franco went four for six for Cleveland, which pounded out a season-high 20 hits off four Toronto pitchers.

Viola (0-1), making his first start, gave up 10 runs, nine earned, and 10 hits in four innings. The 1988 AL Cy Young Award winner pitched in only his fourth major league game since undergoing elbow surgery in May 1994.

“I figured I’d give up a lot of runs today so I’ve got plenty of room for improvement next time,” Viola joked. “But seriously, for me to survive, even when I was healthy before, I need location. And my location was horrible today.”

Milwaukee 16, Seattle 9--Fernando Vina had two triples and five runs batted in and the Brewers overcame two home runs by the Mariners’ Jay Buhner at County Stadium.

Vina hit a two-run triple off Paul Menhart in the second and added a bases-loaded triple against Mike Jackson in the eighth.

Jose Valentin had four RBIs, including a squeeze bunt that broke a sixth-inning tie.

Tim Davis (0-1) took the loss and Mike Potts earned his first major-league victory.

Texas 5, Baltimore 4--Rusty Greer’s bases-loaded run-scoring single through a drawn-in infield broke a 10th-inning tie and gave the Rangers a victory over the Orioles at Baltimore.

Texas scored four times in the 10th and then survived a Baltimore rally to defeat the Rangers for the sixth consecutive time this season.

In the Baltimore 10th, Brady Anderson tied a major-league record by hitting his American League-leading 11th homer. Anderson’s homer tied the record for most homers in April and set a club record, breaking Frank Robinson’s 10 set in 1969.

Oakland 6, Detroit 3--Scott Brosius had his third two-homer game of the season and Mark McGwire nearly cleared Tiger Stadium’s left-field roof as the Athletics hit five homers at Detroit.

Brosius, who had two-homer games April 4 against Detroit in Las Vegas and Tuesday at Milwaukee, hit solo homers in the second and seventh innings. Five of his eight homers have come against the Tigers.

McGwire’s two-run homer was his second in as many days and the 20th of his career in Detroit.

New York 6, Minnesota 3--Paul O’Neill saved a potential home run with a leaping grab against the right-field wall, then homered to break a seventh-inning tie to lead the Yankees at New York.

O’Neill jumped to the top of the fence in the fourth to grab Paul Molitor’s bid for a homer. O’Neill then broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh with his second homer. O’Neill also singled, raising his league-leading average to .398.

Kansas City 9, Boston 7--Pinch-hitter Bob Hamelin hit a two-run homer as the Royals, who blew a three-run lead in the eighth inning, scored three in the ninth to beat the Red Sox at Boston.

The Red Sox trailed, 5-1, before getting run-scoring singles from Mike Stanley and Troy O’Leary in the seventh. Boston took a one-run lead in the eighth thanks to Mo Vaughn’s seventh homer.

Heathcliff Slocumb could not hold the lead for the Red Sox, who were swept by the Royals and are 6-19 for the season.