AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Fielder Hammers Indians Again

Cecil Fielder’s rooftop shot was one of three Detroit home runs and David Wells won for the eighth time in nine decisions as the Tigers defeated the Cleveland Indians, 7-3, Monday night.

In his career, Fielder now has 67 hits in 201 at-bats against Cleveland pitching for a .333 average. Twenty-five of those hits have been home runs, and Fielder has batted in 63 runs against the Indians.

“He just kills us,” Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove said. “I don’t know why. If we knew why, we’d do something about it.

“But these things happen in baseball. You can see it throughout the game, where a guy just owns one particular team. Nobody knows why.”

It was so routine for Fielder that he dressed and left before anyone could ask him about it. He told a reporter who caught up with him at the door that he was in a hurry to get home.

“I never knew how good he was,” Wells said. “When you’re not a teammate, you see him on ESPN or television highlights. It’s just awesome how much power he has. I couldn’t even imagine hitting a ball as far as he does.”

Travis Fryman and Kirk Gibson also hit home runs for Detroit.

Glenallen Hill hit a home run for Cleveland.

Fielder’s 13th homer gave the Tigers a 5-1 lead. The shot, on a 1-and-1 count, came within about three feet of going over the roof. It landed to the left of the light tower and rolled back down the roof, falling into the second-deck seats.

Oakland 7, Chicago 3--Rickey Henderson stole two bases and scored two runs, becoming the Athletics’ all-time leader in runs scored, as host Oakland beat the White Sox.

Henderson, who became major league baseball’s all-time stolen base leader when he surpassed Lou Brock in 1991, increased his career total to 1,065.

He also has scored 999 runs as a member of the Athletics, surpassing Bob Johnson’s 997, set with the Philadelphia Athletics from 1933-42.

Minnesota 4, Toronto 3--Shane Mack, who had nothing to show for two triples earlier in the game, broke a seventh-inning tie with a weak grounder, rallying the Twins at Minneapolis.

Larry Casian (1-0), who gave up Pat Border’s sixth-inning go-ahead single, got credit for the victory.

Carl Willis pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save since May 29, 1992.

New York 4, Boston 0--Bernie Williams hit his first grand slam on the first pitch following an unusual ball examination, leading the Yankees at New York.

Scott Kamieniecki (1-1) and Bobby Munoz combined on a three-hitter, sending Boston to its eighth loss in nine games.

Williams connected with two outs in the fifth inning on a 1-2 pitch from Danny Darwin (5-6). Just before the pitch, third base umpire John Shulock called time and went to the mound to examine the ball but kept it in play.

Baltimore 8, Milwaukee 5--David Segui’s homer highlighted a five-run sixth inning at Milwaukee that lifted the Orioles to their 11th victory in 12 games.

The biggest hit of the rally against Bill Wegman (4-10) might have been a run-scoring bloop single by Mark McLemore that dropped between Greg Vaughn and Robin Yount.