Alomar’s Five Hits Pace Indians, 9-1

Roberto Alomar has played in 11 All-Star games. He has nine Gold Gloves, two World Series rings and more than 2,300 hits.

But until Tuesday night, a five-hit game was nowhere on his resume.

Alomar’s five-for-five performance overshadowed Manny Ramirez’s return to Cleveland, helping Jake Westbrook and the Cleveland Indians to a 9-1 rout of the Boston Red Sox.

“I had no idea,” Alomar said. “I got lucky. I guess I’m seeing the ball real well.”

Alomar, leading the American League with a .365 batting average, had four singles and a double, and Jim Thome had three runs batted in as the Indians won for only the third time in eight games.

Before the game, Alomar said he isn’t thinking about batting titles. Soon, he may have to. He is hitting .412 since June 1, .543 in his last 12 games.

Westbrook (2-0), making only the third start of his career and his first with the Indians, didn’t give up a run until Trot Nixon homered in the sixth.

Before that, only Ramirez, back at Jacobs Field for the first time since leaving as a free agent, had been able to figure out Westbrook.

Ramirez went two for four, singling his first two times up before grounding out in the sixth and striking out against Danys Baez in the ninth.

Seattle 8, Texas 4--Aaron Sele pitched into the seventh inning at Arlington, Texas, and won for the first time in six starts.

Mike Cameron hit a three-run homer before Sele even took the mound. The Mariners had a season-high 10 extra-base hits, seven in six innings against Darren Oliver (7-3).

Sele (9-1) was relieved by Jeff Nelson with two out in the seventh after he walked Mike Lamb. Sele, 0-1 in five June starts, gave up three runs and six hits, with four strikeouts and three walks.

New York 10, Baltimore 6--Chuck Knoblauch had three hits and scored three runs at Baltimore to help the Yankees to their sixth consecutive victory.

Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius homered for the Yankees, who moved a half-game ahead of the second-place Red Sox in the AL East.

Despite ending a 0-for-16 skid with a homer Monday, Knoblauch entered the game in a four-for-26 slump. He had two singles, a double, a walk and was hit by a pitch.

Detroit 8, Kansas City 4--Jose Lima won for the first time in nearly three months to lead the Tigers at Detroit.

Tony Clark had two run-scoring doubles and Jose Macias had three hits for the Tigers, who ended an eight-game losing streak.

Lima (1-0), making his second start for the Tigers since being traded by the Houston Astros on June 23, recovered from a shaky start.

Minnesota 5, Chicago 3--Matt Lawton hit two home runs, including a two-run shot in the seventh inning, and the Twins rallied at Chicago for their fifth consecutive victory.

The first-place Twins are 10-1 against the White Sox, who fell 12 games behind in the AL Central.

Tampa Bay 7, Toronto 2--Rookie Joe Kennedy pitched six solid innings and Steve Cox drove in two runs at St. Petersburg, Fla., to help the Devil Rays end a four-game losing streak.

Kennedy (3-1) gave up two runs and five hits, walked one and struck out one. He beat the Blue Jays for the second time since making his major league debut a little less than a month ago.