Tigers Pound Red Sox

The Detroit Tigers pounded out 15 hits, including five home runs, in a 14-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Detroit, leaving Red Sox Manager Jimy Williams at a loss for words.

“Fourteen runs is a lot of runs,” he said. “There’s not much you can say about one like this.”

The problem for Williams, however, is that there have been far too many like it during Boston’s slide. The Red Sox have lost three in a row and eight of 11. Since taking a 1 1/2-game lead in the American League East on June 4, they are 19-25 and have fallen seven games behind the New York Yankees.

Injuries have ravaged Boston’s pitching staff, and it didn’t help that the travails of right-hander Tomokazu Ohka continued.

Ohka (0-2), who was chased in the second inning of his major league debut after giving up two runs to the Florida Marlins on July 19, gave up three runs in the first inning. Ohka, signed last November from the Japanese professional league, yielded seven runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.

A thunderstorm that blew through the city in the late afternoon tore some panels off the front of the press box, delaying the start of the game for 47 minutes.

New York 9, Cleveland 8--Derek Jeter sliced a two-out, two-run single to right field in the 10th inning for the victory at New York.

A crowd of 52,704 saw the Yankees move past the Indians for the best record in the majors. New York won its fourth in a row and sent the Indians to their seventh loss in eight games.

The Yankees rallied after the Indians took an 8-7 lead in the 10th on Enrique Wilson’s two-out run-scoring single.

Minnesota 5, Seattle 4--Matt Lawton’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth gave the Twins a comeback victory at Minneapolis.

Kansas City 12, Oakland 7--Jermaine Dye hit a bases-loaded double in a seven-run third inning for the Royals at Kansas City.

Toronto 2, Chicago 1--Mike Matheny hit a two-run homer at Chicago to help the Blue Jays to their seventh consecutive victory.