Royals Strand 14, Drop 12th Straight

American League

The Kansas City Royals lost for a team-record 12th consecutive time, stranding 14 runners while falling to the visiting Chicago White Sox 7-6 Sunday.

Frank Thomas homered for the third straight game and Albert Belle hit a three-run shot as the White Sox won their seventh straight and swept a four-game series in Kauffman Stadium for the first time. Chicago won despite walking 10 Royals.

Thomas, the A.L.’s batting leader, was 9 for 17 in the series, drove in three runs in each game and raised his average to .378.

Kansas City’s previous high for a losing streak was 11 straight from June 27-July 8, 1986. The Royals haven’t won since beating Milwaukee 16-3 on June 27. The last four losses have come under Tony Muser, who took over as manager Wednesday when Bob Boone was fired.

Belle, with only one hit in his first 13 at-bats in the series, homered after an RBI single by Thomas.

Tigers 3, Yankees 1 New York

Bobby Higginson went 4 for 5 and Willie Blair pitched seven strong innings as Detroit snapped a 10-game losing streak against New York.

Higginson homered and drove in all three runs for the Tigers, who avoided being swept in the four-game series with their first win over New York since last Aug. 10.

Blair (7-4) limited the Yankees to five singles and retired 11 of his last 12 batters.

Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 2 Boston

Shawn Green homered again to back another strong Toronto pitching performance - this time by Woody Williams.

A day after Roger Clemens struck out 16 Boston batters, Williams (4-8) allowed three hits in 6-1/3 innings. But he allowed a solo homer to Mike Stanley in the fifth and left after Reggie Jefferson hit one in the seventh to make it 3-2.

Rookie Kelvim Escobar, the sixth Blue Jays pitcher, got the final two outs for his first career save.

Angels 5, Athletics 3 Oakland, Calif.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa won for the first time in 26 appearances since April 15, helping Anaheim extend its winning streak to six.

Anaheim has won 11 straight games against Oakland since last Sept. 18, going 10-0 against the A’s this year. Oakland, which gave major league home-run leader Mark McGwire the day off, has lost four straight, dropping to 37-55.

Hasegawa (2-4) allowed one hit in 2 scoreless innings. Troy Percival pitched a scoreless ninth for his 12th save, giving Anaheim its longest winning streak since a seven-gamer from May 12-18.

Indians 12, Twins 5 Minneapolis

Jim Thome drove in three runs with a homer and double and Brian Giles added a two-run homer.

Bartolo Colon (2-2), recalled from Triple A Buffalo earlier in the day, allowed three runs on three hits over 5 innings before being replaced by David Weathers. Colon struck out four and walked three as the Indians took three of four games from the Twins.

Thome gave the Indians a 1-0 lead in the first inning with his 26th home run.

Brewers 6, Orioles 4 Baltimore

Dave Nilsson and Jack Voigt homered off Mike Mussina as resurgent Milwaukee completed its first three-game sweep in Baltimore since 1987.

Roberto Alomar homered for the Orioles, whose six-game losing streak is their longest since an identical skid in April 1996. Baltimore never held the lead in the series and went 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position.

Mussina (10-3) gave up five runs, eight hits and a walk in 6 innings. The right-hander was 5-0 with a 2.22 ERA at home and 10-1 since April 6.

Clearing the bases

Cleveland’s Sandy Alomar, who had his 30-game hitting streak stopped Thursday, did not start Sunday. He had two hits in 12 at-bats during the series in Minnesota. … White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura will start a rehabilitation assignment today at Triple-A Nashville. He sustained a compound fracture of his right ankle in an exhibition game March 21. … New York’s Cecil Fielder needs one homer to become the 74th big-leaguer with 300. … Boston’s Wilfredo Cordero was booed every plate appearance. He is 0-for-10 at Fenway Park since being charged with assaulting and threatening to kill his wife.