Strawberry’s Hit Helps Stop Red Sox Streak

Darryl Strawberry broke a fifth-inning tie with a run-scoring double Tuesday night, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, 9-5, ending Boston’s six-game win streak.

Jimmy Key (7-6) outpitched Roger Clemens (4-9) for the second time this month, though this one bore no resemblance to their July 1 matchup.

This time Clemens retired only five batters before giving up a walk and five consecutive hits that turned a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 deficit. Boston tied it in the bottom of the second, but the Yankees took the lead for good in the fifth when Paul O’Neill walked and scored on Strawberry’s double.

Clemens, who struck out the side in the third, had eight strikeouts to move past Jack Morris into 21st place on the career list with 2,485, one behind Don Drysdale.

Oakland 12, Seattle 5--Mark McGwire hit his 31st homer and Scott Brosius had a homer and three RBIs as the Athletics routed the Mariners at Oakland.

The Athletics scored four runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and five in the sixth to overcome a 4-0 deficit.

McGwire’s two-run homer, a towering shot into the left-field seats, broke a 4-4 tie in the fifth. The A’s have homered in 12 consecutive games and lead the majors with 146.

McGwire has 26 homers in his last 49 games.

Seattle took a 4-0 lead on a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez in the third, his 20th, and Rich Amaral’s two-run single in the fourth.

Cleveland 10, Kansas City 4--Albert Belle hit his 31st homer and Eddie Murray drove in four runs, leading the Indians over the Royals at Kansas City.

Belle tied Mark McGwire and Brady Anderson for the major league home run lead with a two-run shot in the first inning. Belle has 85 RBIs, three behind AL leader Greg Vaughn.

Belle’s homer was his 225th, one behind the Cleveland record set by Earl Averill.

Murray moved past Mel Ott into eighth place on the career list with 1,863 RBIs. His 541st double tied him with Rogers Hornsby for 14th place.

Jack McDowell (8-6) improved to 5-0 with a 2.01 earned-run averages in seven career starts at Kauffman Stadium.

Chicago 11, Minnesota 2--Robin Ventura homered twice and drove in four runs, and Wilson Alvarez struck out a career-high 12 to lead the White Sox over the Twins.

Ventura hit a solo homer in the eighth and a three-run homer in the ninth, raising his season total to 21.

Harold Baines hit a two-run homer in the sixth, the 316th of his career. He tied George Brett for 61st place on the career list.

Milwaukee 20, Detroit 7--Greg Vaughn hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, taking over the league lead with 88 RBIs to help the Brewers win at Milwaukee.

Jose Valentin, John Jaha and Matt Mieske also homered in Milwaukee’s highest-scoring game since it scored 22 against Toronto in 1992.

The Brewers became the fifth team to score at least 20 runs in a game this year. Not since 1950, when it also happened five times, have there been so many 20-run games in a season.

Toronto 6, Baltimore 0--Juan Guzman pitched his second career shutout and Angel Martinez had two of seven doubles off Mike Mussina as the Blue Jays beat the Orioles at Baltimore.

Joe Carter had four hits for the Blue Jays, who led 5-0 after three innings and coasted to their fourth win in six games since the All-Star break. Toronto had eight doubles, one short of the team record.

The Orioles lost for the sixth time in seven games.

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20-Run Games in 1996 *--*

26 Texas vs. Baltimore (7), April 19 24 Minnesota at Detroit (11), April 24 21 Montreal at Colorado (9), April 28 20 Chicago White Sox at Milw. (8), May 15 20 Milwaukee vs. Detroit (7), July 16

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