Plantier’s Double Leads Hot Oakland
American League
Phil Plantier doubled home the go-ahead run in the 11th inning Thursday, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 at Toronto for their fifth consecutive win.
Pedro Munoz drew a oneout walk from Tim Crabtree (0-1). Plantier, who had been 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, followed with a double to the wall in right-center and Munoz scored without a throw.
Mike Mohler (2-0) struck out three in three perfect innings of relief to give the A’s a sweep of the two-game series.
Toronto starter Juan Guzman, who already has two complete games, allowed three runs on six hits in nine innings. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.
Indians 4, Yankees 3 New York
Albert Belle hit a solo homer in the eighth, his eighth of the season in 77 at-bats, to lead Cleveland over New York.
New York had tied the game in the sixth on Tino Martinez’s second homer of the season.
Red Sox 8, Rangers 3 Boston
Mo Vaughn homered twice and Tim Wakefield (1-3) won for the first time this season as Boston handed Texas its fourth consecutive loss.
Brewers 6, Angels 5 Milwaukee
Turner Ward tripled home the winning run in the ninth, and Milwaukee stopped California’s seven-game winning streak. , Twins 11, Tigers 1 Detroit
Minnesota picked up where it left off the previous day, rapping 15 hits and sending Detroit to its eighth consecutive loss.
The Twins, who routed the Tigers 24-11 on Wednesday, started the scoring in the first on Ron Coomer’s two-run single.
Orioles 3, Royals 2 Kansas City, Mo.
Arthur Rhodes (3-0) won his first start since July and Roberto Alomar drove in two runs, leading Baltimore over Kansas City (6-16), which tied Boston for the worst record in the majors.
Hitters produce record
After the Minnesota Twins scored 24 times on Wednesday, the major leagues were off on a record day for runs.
Minnesota’s 24-11 romp over Detroit set the tone for a day in which 195 runs were scored in 14 games.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the average of 13.9 runs a game represents the highest one-day average in this century on any of the 1,593 days on which at least 14 games were played.
The mark broke the previous record of 190 runs scored in 14 games on July 12, 1931. Minnesota’s 24 runs against Detroit equaled the most allowed by the Tigers. It matched the mark set in a 24-2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics on May 18, 1912.
Clearing the bases
Minnesota’s Rich Becker is in a 0-for-24 slump and is 1 for 32 in his last 14 games. … Juan Gonzalez has 23 RBIs this month, tying a Texas club record for April set by Julio Franco in 1989. … New York is 0-7 when it scores three runs or less. … Toronto hasn’t attempted a stolen base in its last nine games… . Dwight Gooden, banished to the New York Yankees bullpen after failing in his first three starts, will return to the rotation Saturday, replacing David Cone. The Yankees want the struggling Cone to have a few extra days rest.