Dye Helps Sweeney Tie 58-Year-Old Record

Mike Sweeney offers an explanation for his record-tying streak: Jermaine Dye.

Sweeney tied a 58-year-old American League mark by knocking in a run for his 13th consecutive game and Dye homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs, leading the Kansas City Royals over the Cleveland Indians, 10-9, Sunday at Cleveland.

“I’m seeing more pitches with Jermaine swinging the bat like that,” Sweeney said. “He’s a big reason for the streak.”

Sweeney lined a double over the head of center fielder Kenny Lofton in the fifth inning, scoring Joe Randa from first base and giving the Royals a 4-2 lead.

Sweeney matched the RBI mark set by Taffy Wright of the 1941 Chicago White Sox. The major league record is 17 games in a row by Oscar Grimes of the 1922 Chicago Cubs.

“So, who’s the guy I tied?” Sweeney said. “Oh, I know Taffy, sure. Back around World War II.

“I don’t know what to say except I am thankful Carlos Beltran, Randa and [Johnny] Damon are getting on base a lot in front of me. Without that, this streak does not happen.”

Dye, who had four hits, hit five home runs--including the first two multihomer games of his career--and went nine for 17 with 12 RBIs in the series.

“Hitters have teams they do well against and this is one for me,” Dye said. “I don’t really have an explanation, I just hope it continues.”

Winner Kevin Appier (8-6) gave up five runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings.

Detroit 15, Minnesota 5--Juan Encarnacion homered, tripled and drove in four runs as the Tigers ended a three-game losing streak with a victory at Minneapolis.

Damion Easley also had four RBIs for Detroit, which set a season-high for runs and hits (19). Encarnacion scored four runs for the Tigers.

Justin Thompson (7-8) gave up four hits and five runs in 5 2/3 innings to end a personal two-game losing streak.

Rookie shortstop Cristian Guzman hit his first major league homer for Minnesota, and Javier Valentin hit his third of the season.

Boston 5, Chicago 2--Bret Saberhagen gave up five hits over seven innings for his third win in a row and Troy O’Leary hit his 17th homer for the Red Sox at Chicago.

Saberhagen (5-2) gave up runs on Paul Konerko’s ninth homer in the second and Craig Wilson’s RBI grounder in the fifth. He walked none and struck out two.

“I was fortunate they were coming up there swinging,” said Saberhagen, who threw only 70 pitches. “They swing early and they swing often and that’s helpful to a guy who can locate the ball. Over time I’m sure they’ll adjust and take a few more pitches.”

Saberhagen retired nine in a row before Brook Fordyce led off the bottom of the eighth with a double. Derek Lowe relieved and got three outs, then Tim Wakefield pitched the ninth for his eighth save.

Baltimore 7, New York 3--B.J. Surhoff hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the seventh inning and had five runs batted in at New York to help the Orioles end a 10-game losing streak.

“Hopefully this will clear the slate a little bit and let us go out and enjoy games,” Baltimore Manager Ray Miller said.

Juan Guzman (4-6) gave up two first-inning runs and Chili Davis’ upper-deck solo homer in the second, then gave up just four more hits before leaving in the seventh. Scott Kamieniecki pitched two-hit relief for his second save.

Toronto 6, Tampa Bay 3--Shawn Green hit two home runs to give him 100 in his career and Pat Hentgen earned his 100th major league victory in the Blue Jays win at Toronto.

Jose Canseco hit his 30th home run, becoming the first player in major league history to reach the mark with four different teams. He previously did it with Oakland, Texas and Toronto.

Third baseman Wade Boggs’ throwing error in the seventh inning gave the Blue Jays the go-ahead run.