Wells Continues to Struggle in Loss to Tigers

Nothing is going right for David Wells.

Juan Encarnacion hit a tiebreaking three-run home run in the seventh inning Wednesday night, one of three homers against the struggling left-hander, as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-3, at Toronto.

Bobby Higginson added a two-run shot and Dean Palmer hit a solo homer against Wells, who has lost his last three starts.

“When it rains it pours,” Wells said. “I make a good pitch and they make contact and end up getting a base hit, and then I make a bad pitch and then I’m three or four runs behind.”

Wells (4-4) gave up six runs and nine hits in seven innings, raising his earned-run average to 6.00. He struck out eight and walked one.

“I just have to work through this, my stuff is not bad, I just have to make pitches when I got guys on,” he said.

After the game a frustrated Wells met with Toronto Manager Jim Fregosi.

“He told me he feels like he’s letting the club down,” said Fregosi, whose team has lost nine of its last 12 games. “Unfortunately, David is in one of those grooves right now when he misses by an inch and they hit it out.”

With the score tied, 3-3, in the seventh, Wells gave up a single to Bill Haselman and a double to Deivi Cruz. Encarnacion then hit his fourth homer to give Detroit a 6-3 lead.

“Wells had great stuff,” Palmer said. “He just made a couple of mistakes and we were lucky enough not to miss them.”

Boston 6, New York 0--Emergency starter Brian Rose pitched seven shutout innings and Jason Varitek went four for four with two homers for the surging Red Sox at Boston.

The Red Sox, who replaced the Yankees as the American League East leaders with a 6-3 win over the defending World Series champions on Tuesday night, increased their lead to 1 1/2 games with their 11th victory in 13 games.

The slumping Yankees have lost seven of eight and are 0-2 since Manager Joe Torre returned from a two-month absence following surgery for prostate cancer.

Rose (1-0) was recalled Wednesday from Pawtucket of the International League to fill in for rookie Juan Pena, who was sidelined because of tendinitis in his right shoulder after winning his first two major league starts.

The Yankees managed six hits against Rose, who was 1-4 last year as a rookie before elbow problems ended his season. He struck out three and walked one. Mark Guthrie pitched the eighth and Jim Corsi finished after a rain delay of 73 minutes.

Seattle 7, Minnesota 0--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his fifth home run in six games and Jeff Fassero pitched eight shutout innings for the Mariners at Seattle.

Alex Rodriguez hit two homers to help Seattle sweep its first series of the season and win its fourth game in a row. The Twins have lost six in a row.

Seattle’s Edgar Martinez, who tied a major league record with five homers in the first two games of the series, went one for four with a single.

Fassero (2-5), who had a 7.59 ERA in his previous nine starts, limited Minnesota to four hits while walking three and striking out seven. Jose Paniagua finished the combined five-hitter.

Griffey remained tied with Jose Canseco of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the major league lead with his 16th homer of the season. Canseco homered against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.

Cleveland 13, Chicago 7--Richie Sexson drove in a career-high five runs with the second grand slam of his career and an RBI single to lead an 18-hit attack for the Indians at Chicago.

David Justice, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez each drove in two runs for the Indians, who outscored the White Sox, 39-16, and outhit them, 48-23, in sweeping a three-game series.

Sexson went three for five, including a grand slam with two outs in the fifth against Bryan Ward. It was his seventh homer of the season.

Kansas City 14, Oakland 3--Chad Kreuter drove in five runs at Kansas City, helping the Royals spoil Tom Candiotti’s bid for his 150th victory.

The loss was the second in a row but only the fourth in 15 games for the A’s and dropped them one game behind the Rangers in the American League West.

Kreuter, seven for nine the last two games with three doubles and seven runs batted in, hit reliever Brad Rigby’s first pitch for a two-run double in the fifth.

He added a two-run single against Rigby in the sixth. Kreuter also had an RBI double in the third as the Royals won for the ninth time in 12 games.