AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Yankees Win Sixth in Row, Stay Ahead of Seattle

Ruben Sierra hit a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and Paul O’Neill homered during a six-run ninth Tuesday night at Cleveland as the streaking New York Yankees defeated the Indians, 9-2.

The Yankees, winners of six in a row and 12 of 14, remained a half-game ahead of Seattle in the AL wild-card race.

The victory was the 300th for Buck Showalter, 39, who became the second-youngest Yankee manager to reach that mark. Clark Griffith won his 300th when he was 36.

Cleveland’s Eddie Murray singled in the second inning for his 3,053rd hit, tying him with Rod Carew for 15th on the career list.

The Indians committed a season-high five errors, losing their second in a row after winning their previous 14 at home.

Seattle 14, Minnesota 3--Jay Buhner drove in four runs with two homers and Tino Martinez drove in four runs with two doubles at Seattle, as the Mariners won for the fourth time in five games.

Mike Blowers and Dan Wilson also had home runs as the Mariners equaled a team record set last season by homering in their 15th consecutive game.

Baltimore 6, Boston 5--The Orioles overcame two homers by Mo Vaughn and another by Mike Greenwell at Baltimore and extended the Red Sox’s losing streak to a season-high five games.

The bottom two batters in the Baltimore lineup inflicted the most damage. No. 8 hitter Mark Smith had two RBIs, including the tie-breaking single in the seventh, and Bret Barberie also drove in two runs.

Vaughn’s two homers gave him four in three games and 37 for the season. Greenwell hit his 13th homer to tie the game in the seventh.

Mike Hartley (1-0) got the last out in the seventh, and Jesse Orosco got the final four outs for his second save.

Detroit 5, Milwaukee 1--Chris Gomez had a three-run double and Jose Lima gave up three hits in six innings at Detroit as the Tigers won their fourth consecutive game. John Doherty pitched two perfect innings for his fifth save.

Texas 6, Toronto 5--First baseman John Olerud had a line drive bounce off his glove for a double and also made a throwing error in the eighth inning at Toronto, helping the Rangers score three runs.

Trailing, 4-3, Juan Gonzalez led off the eighth with a double and Mickey Tettleton followed with a single, chasing starter Al Leiter (10-9).

Ivan Rodriguez lined a ball that skipped off Olerud’s glove and down the right-field line, allowing the tying run to score.

Rusty Green hit a ground ball that Olerud dove for, but his throw to the plate sailed to the backstop and two more runs scored.

Kansas City 3, Oakland 1--Tom Gordon and Jeff Montgomery combined on a six-hitter and Bob Hamelin homered at Oakland as the Royals snapped a four-game losing streak.

The Royals, still two games behind the Yankees in the wild-card race, overcame Todd Van Poppel’s nine-strikeout performance, which matched his career high. The A’s have lost seven of nine.