New York Curtails Boston’s Win Streak

American League

The Boston Red Sox knew their winning streak had to end sooner or later. The steady defense, solid pitching and timely hitting couldn’t go on forever.

So when the New York Yankees ended Boston’s 12-game streak Tuesday night at Fenway Park with a 9-2 victory, the Red Sox wanted to think about their two weeks of uninterrupted success and not the mistake-filled way in which it ended.

“When you win 12 straight in the heat of a pennant race against the teams we’ve faced,” manager Kevin Kennedy said, “you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

The Red Sox committed three errors and put themselves at a big disadvantage in the second inning by allowing five unearned runs - as many as they’d allowed in the previous 37 games.

“Some things caught up with us tonight,” catcher Mike Macfarlane said.

“Streak or no streak, it just wasn’t a well-played ballgame on our part.”

Pat Kelly had three doubles and three RBIs and Jim Leyritz had three hits for New York.

The Red Sox hadn’t lost since Aug. 2, when Detroit handed them their only shutout of the year to cut their lead to 4-1/2 games.

Boston’s streak was tied for the third longest in club history. They last won 12 straight in 1988. The record of 15 in a row was set in 1946.

Tuesday’s crowd of 34,616 was the largest of the season at Fenway Park.

Orioles 8, Indians 3

Baltimore

Rafael Palmeiro homered for the third straight game and Baltimore rallied for six runs with two outs in the first inning to beat Cleveland and end a five-game losing streak.

Baltimore’s big first inning came at the expense of Charles Nagy (10-5), who had been 6-0 since June 23. Nagy lasted only two-thirds of an inning, matching the shortest outing of his six-year career.

Angels 7, White Sox 3

Chicago

Mark Langston got his 12th victory and Tim Salmon drove in three runs as California beat Chicago for the eighth time in eight tries this season.

The Angels are 26 games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 20, 1989.

Langston (12-2) allowed nine hits in 7-2/3 innings, including Frank Thomas’ 32nd homer and has won nine of his last 10 decisions.

Tigers 11, Blue Jays 5

Detroit

Milt Cuyler hit a pair of two-run triples and Cecil Fielder hit a two-run homer to lead Detroit.

The victory was Detroit’s seventh in 33 games since the All-Star break.

The start of the game was delayed one hour and 39 minutes by rain.

Rangers 3, Brewers 2

Arlington, Texas

Esteban Beltre’s two-out pinch-single in the bottom of the eighth inning snapped a tie and lifted Texas.

In a battle of A.L. wildcard contenders, the Rangers moved 2-1/2 games in front of the Brewers.

Royals 7, Athletics 4

Kansas City

Jon Nunnally stole home for the third time and David Howard knocked in three runs as Kansas City beat Oakland in a game called because of rain in the seventh inning.

Clearing the bases

Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr. has 16 RBIs in his last 17 games… . Detroit has acquired infielder-outfielder Phil Nevin, the top pick in the 1992 free-agent draft, from Houston to complete the trade last week which sent reliever Mike Henneman to the Astros… . Geronimo Berroa of Oakland had his hitting streak stopped at 17 games… . Letters sent by ABC to Major League Baseball and by Major League Baseball to ABC and NBC signal that the two-year marriage of the three entities is officially headed for the scrap heap.