Yankees Running Away with East After Sweep

The New York Yankees have taken control of the East, thanks to an unprecedented sweep of the reeling Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees improved to 6-0 in Baltimore this season with a 4-1 victory Sunday. It was the first time New York swept a season series in Baltimore, and the Yankees’ first four-game sweep in Baltimore since 1955.

Andy Pettitte (14-1) pitched seven solid innings and Darryl Strawberry had two hits and scored twice for the Yankees.

The four-game blitz left New York a season-high 10 games ahead of second-place Baltimore.

“The only way you can do it is to do what we did, beat them four games in a row. You can’t expect to do that against this ballclub, especially in their ballpark,” Torre said of New York’s lead. “Everything we did worked.”

Minnesota 5, Cleveland 4--Paul Molitor hit a solo home run with one out in the ninth inning and the Twins defeated Cleveland at Minneapolis.

Mark Carreon, acquired by Cleveland during the All-Star break in a trade that sent pitcher Jim Poole to San Francisco, hit a two-run homer off Frank Rodriguez in the seventh that tied the score, 4-4, before Molitor hit his seventh home run of the season.

The Twins scored three runs in the bottom of the first against Charles Nagy.

Chicago 3, Kansas City 2--Rookie James Baldwin held the Royals to three singles in eight-plus innings, and Danny Tartabull drove in all three runs as the White Sox won at Kansas City, Mo.

Baldwin (8-1), whose only loss was May 13 to Milwaukee, struck out two and did not issue a walk before giving way to Roberto Hernandez. He got the final three outs for his 28th save, giving up run-scoring grounders by David Howard and Jose Offerman.

Tartabull had a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a two-run homer in the ninth as the White Sox took three of four against the Royals.

Boston 6, Detroit 4--Tim Naehring and Mo Vaughn homered and the Red Sox won their fifth in a row, finishing off a four-game sweep at Detroit.

Jamie Moyer (5-1) won a start for the first time since April 18. He gave up one earned run and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Naehring reached base and scored in his first two at-bats. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning, then led off the fourth with a single and later scored.

Oakland 9, Texas 1--Scott Brosius and Matt Stairs hit solo homers and Jason Giambi had three runs batted in as the Athletics batted around twice in the first three innings at Oakland.

Jose Herrera and Rafael Bournigal had three hits apiece for the A’s, who have homered in a season-high 10 consecutive games. The only starter in the Oakland lineup without a hit was Mark McGwire.

Doug Johns (6-10) had a career-high seven strikeouts and gave up one run on 10 hits in eight innings.

Toronto 7, Milwaukee 5--Tomas Perez hit a go-ahead single in the 10th inning that lifted the Blue Jays to the victory at Milwaukee, spoiling Brewer starter Cal Eldred’s first appearance in 13 months.

Eldred gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings--more than a year after undergoing tendon replacement surgery on his right elbow. He walked three, struck out four and hit a batter, but left with the score tied, 3-3.

With one out in the 10th and the score tied, 5-5, Otis Nixon reached on his second bunt single of the game, then stole second. Perez singled against Ramon Garcia (3-3) to score Nixon.