Naehring’s Error Leads to Another Boston Loss

The line drive got away from third baseman Tim Naehring and the game slipped away from the Boston Red Sox.

His error on Ed Sprague’s hard shot led to Toronto’s eight-run fourth inning, and the Blue Jays finished with 10 unearned runs off Tim Wakefield in Sunday’s 11-4 victory at Boston.

“I got handcuffed for a second and lost it in the crowd,” Naehring said. “I screwed the play up. It obviously changed the momentum of the whole game around.”

Boston was leading, 3-0, at the time and never threatened against Pat Hentgen (4-2) after that.

Joe Carter’s two-run homer, his 10th of the season and third in the three-game series, capped the fourth inning in which all eight Toronto runs were unearned.

Carter started the fourth inning with a single. He went to third when Ed Sprague’s liner went off Naehring’s glove. After John Olerud struck out, Carter scored and Sprague took second on a passed ball by Mike Stanley. Shawn Green hit a run-scoring single that cut Boston’s lead to 3-2.

After Sandy Martinez walked and Felipe Crespo flied out, Wakefield (2-4) allowed four consecutive hits, including Carter’s homer, for six more runs.

Cleveland 2, Seattle 0--Dennis Martinez moved into a tie with Whitey Ford for 50th place on the career victory list with No. 236, pitching the Indians past the Mariners at Seattle.

Martinez (5-2) allowed only three singles in 6 2/3 innings. Seattle starter Chris Bosio (3-2) left in the seventh, when the Indians scored on Tony Pena’s single.

Eddie Murray hit his first home run of the season, and the 480th of his career, in the eighth. He moved ahead of former teammate Dave Winfield for 11th place with 1,834 career runs batted in.

Milwaukee 13, Baltimore 1--Ben McDonald pitched six strong innings at Baltimore and Greg Vaughn had a homer and four RBIs as the Brewers ended a five-game losing streak.

McDonald (4-1), who spent seven years with the Orioles before signing as a free agent with Milwaukee in January, allowed one run and four hits.

Baltimore center fielder Brady Anderson, the major league home run leader, left the game in the sixth inning after he strained a right leg muscle.

New York 7, Chicago 1--Wade Boggs was three for four with a home run and Andy Pettitte bounced back from two ineffective starts to win his fifth as the host Yankees defeated the White Sox.

Boggs hit his first home run of the season in the fourth inning and added an RBI single in the sixth off Kevin Tapani (2-2).

Pettitte (5-1) was rocked for 19 hits and 13 runs in 8 2/3 innings in his last two starts, but the left-hander limited the White Sox to three hits in six innings to become the AL’s first five-game winner.

Kansas City 2, Oakland 0--Chris Haney, winless for almost a year, pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout in three seasons, leading the Royals over the Athletics at Kansas City, Mo.

Haney (1-4), who had lost seven consecutive decisions since last June 13, struck out seven and walked none.

Keith Lockhart hit a two-run double in the first to back Haney, who lowered his earned-run average from 6.68 to 5.23. In his previous decision, Haney lasted only 3 1/3 innings in an 11-8 loss.

Texas 3, Detroit 2--Kevin Elster’s two-run homer and the pitching of Kevin Gross led the Rangers to the victory at Detroit.

Gross (4-3) followed back-to-back one-hitters by Ken Hill and Roger Pavlik by stopping Detroit on five hits in seven innings. He struck out two and walked none.

Elster’s seventh homer of the season, with Mark McLemore aboard, put the Rangers up, 3-2, in the fifth inning.