Vaughn Homers Twice and Joins an Elite Group

Mo Vaughn joined a rather exclusive club of Boston Red Sox sluggers Sunday night.

Vaughn hit his 30th and 31st homers, giving him four consecutive 30-homer seasons, as the Red Sox ended a successful road trip with a 14-8 victory over the Texas Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

In Red Sox history, only Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams and Vaughn have reached the 30-homer plateau in four successive seasons. Foxx had five consecutive and Williams four, although Williams’ streak was interrupted by two years of World War II military service.

“That’s pretty good company,” said Vaughn, who went two for four and drove in four runs. “A lot of great players have worn this uniform. If I can be half like them, I’ll be happy.”

Vaughn had a solo homer in the fourth and a three-run shot in Boston’s six-run fifth, giving him six homers against the Rangers this season, four in the four-game series.

He almost got his third of the game in the seventh when he sent Ranger right fielder Mike Simms to the wall.

Vaughn said he’s made a few adjustments at the plate to trigger his current hot streak. Vaughn was 17 for 51 with six homers and 12 RBIs in the 12-game road trip.

“I’ve tried to change a few things to make myself more consistent,” Vaughn said. “I’m trying to ride this wave. This is a key point of the season for us.”

The Red Sox won eight games during their 12-game road trip, and now return home for eight at Fenway Park.

“This gives us some good momentum going home,” Vaughn said. “It seems like we’ve been on the road forever.”

Tampa Bay 2, Cleveland 1--John Flaherty’s ninth-inning double drove in Quinton McCracken from first base and gave the Devil Rays the victory at St. Petersburg, Fla.

McCracken began the ninth with a single off Paul Assenmacher (2-5). Paul Shuey, the third Indian pitcher, gave up the winning shot into the left-field corner one out later.

Jim Mecir (4-2) pitched one inning in relief to get the victory.

New York 5, Kansas City 4--Bernie Williams singled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning as the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Royals at New York.

New York (84-29) outscored the Royals, 41-9, in the sweep, completing a week that saw the Yankees win seven of eight, outscoring Oakland and Kansas City by a combined 76-22.

Toronto 4, Oakland 3--Jose Cruz Jr.’s two-run homer in the eighth inning rallied the Blue Jays to a victory at Toronto.

Trailing, 3-2, Carlos Delgado singled to open the eighth off Mike Mohler (3-3) before Cruz hit his fifth homer over the left-field fence. Cruz is batting .357 (10 for 28) since being recalled from triple-A Syracuse on July 30.

Minnesota 5, Baltimore 4--Pat Meares went three for four with two RBIs as the Twins defeated the Orioles at Minneapolis for its first victory in eight games in August.

Meares raised his average against Mike Mussina (10-6) to .417 (10 for 24) and helped hand the right-hander his second loss in 14 decisions against Minnesota.

B.J. Surhoff and Roberto Alomar homered for the Orioles, who have connected in a franchise-record 20 consecutive games. Eric Davis had an infield hit in the third to extend his team-record hitting streak to 25 games.