Blue Jays Complete Sweep of Orioles

Joe Carter drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays completed their first four-game sweep at Baltimore with a 3-2 victory over the Orioles on Sunday.

Juan Guzman and three relievers combined on a five-hitter against the struggling Orioles, who scored only five runs in the series. Baltimore had not lost more than two games in a row this season before the Blue Jays came to town.

The loss, combined with New York’s 11-10 victory over Cleveland, cut the Oriole lead over the Yankees to 5 1/2 games, Baltimore’s smallest lead since May 20.

Carlos Garcia opened the Toronto eighth with an infield hit off Armando Benitez (0-3) and Otis Nixon followed with a walk. The runners moved up on a long fly ball by Jacob Brumfield, and Carter followed with the Blue Jays’ third sacrifice fly of the afternoon to make it 3-2.

The three sacrifice flies tied a team record, set seven times previously.

The Blue Jays stole two bases, took advantage of six walks and rallied to win--qualities that the Orioles had displayed with great consistency before this series.

“That’s the best baseball we played all year as far as getting key hits, as far as starting pitching and as far as the bullpen,” Toronto Manager Cito Gaston said.

Toronto reliever Kelvim Escobar won in his major league debut, giving up one run and two hits in 4 1/3 innings.

New York 11, Cleveland 10--Tino Martinez bailed out the Yankee bullpen with a run-scoring single in the eighth inning at New York.

After Yankee relievers blew a three-run lead in the top of the eighth, Martinez came through in the home half to continue his hitting tear. Martinez, who hit a three-run home run in the first inning, has 11 hits in his last 20 at-bats and has six home runs in his last six games.

Manny Ramirez drove in four runs and Matt Williams hit his third home run in two days for the Indians.

Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar singled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to 26 games, five shy of the team record set by Napolean Lajoie in 1906. It was the sixth time during his streak that Alomar has gotten a hit in his last at-bat.

With the score tied, 10-10, in the eighth inning, Paul O’Neill singled with one out off Jose Mesa (0-4) and raced to third on Cecil Fielder’s opposite-field hit to right. Left-hander Paul Assenmacher came on to face Martinez, who lined a 1-and-1 pitch to center field.

Mariano Rivera (2-2) got two outs in the eighth and got Tony Fernandez to pop to short center for the final out with the tying run at third.

Milwaukee 3, Kansas City 2--Jeff Huson’s two-out single scored the go-ahead run as the Brewers rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to win at Kansas City.

In the ninth, Matt Mieske hit a leadoff single off Royal closer Jeff Montgomery (0-3). Mieske went to second base on a wild pitch and scored on Antone Williamson’s pinch-hit single to tie the score, 2-2. Gerald Williams sacrificed Williamson to second before Huson’s single to center.

Bob Wickman (5-3) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win, and Doug Jones struck out the side in the ninth for his 19th save.

Chicago 6, Minnesota 4--Wilson Alvarez won his fourth consecutive start and the White Sox won for the 10th time in 12 games, defeating the Twins at Minneapolis.

All four runs off Alvarez (7-6) were unearned because of errors by first baseman Frank Thomas and third baseman Chris Snopek. Alvarez gave up six hits in five innings, struck out three and walked four, lowering his earned-run average to 2.57.

Mike Cameron robbed Roberto Kelly of a potential game-tying home run in the eighth inning with a leaping catch above the center-field fence. Roberto Hernandez pitched the ninth for his 19th save in 22 chances.

Dave Stevens (0-2), who lost his second consecutive start since his recall from triple-A Salt Lake City, was pounded for six runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Boston 8, Detroit 6--At Boston, Darren Bragg, in an 0-for-15 slump, doubled to break a seventh-inning tie as the Red Sox ended a three-game losing streak.

Jesus Tavarez reached on an infield single off Jose Bautista (1-2) leading off the seventh inning. Nomar Garciaparra sacrificed, and Bragg doubled for a 7-6 lead. Mike Stanley added an RBI single.

John Wasdin (3-3) pitched 1 2/3 innings, and Heathcliff Slocumb got five outs for his 11th save.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Tino Martinez

Team: New York

Performance: 2 for 4, home run, 4 RBIs, 2 runs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Kevin Seitzer

Team: Cleveland

Performance: 3 for 4, double, 3 RBIs, 2 runs

Team’s Result: Loss

*

Player: Juan Gonzalez

Team: Texas

Performance: 2 for 4, home run, 3 RBIs, 1 run

Team’s Result: Loss

PITCHING

Player: Randy Johnson

Team: Seattle

Performance: 8 innings, 5 hits, 0 earned runs, 7 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Shawn Boskie

Team: Baltimore

Performance: 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 5 strikeouts, no walks

Team’s Result: Loss

*

Player: Scott Karl

Team: Milwaukee

Performance: 6 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs, 8 strikeouts, no walks

Team’s Result: Win