BOSTON 6, TORONTO 4 ------------------- BOSTON (Ticker) -- John Valentin hit his first grand slam in over four years and drove in five runs while Tim Wakefield baffled the Toronto Blue Jays with his knuckleball, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 6-4 victory. Valentin and rookie Trot Nixon each had four hits, a career high for the later. Valentin's third career grand slam highlighted a five-run third inning and was his first since May 2, 1995 at New York. He had not hit a grand slam in Fenway Park since August 22, 1992 against Seattle. Wakefield (2-4) lasted 8 1/3 innings and allowed three runs -- two earned -- although a pair crossed when John Wasdin allowed a two-run triple to Jose Cruz with two outs in the ninth. Wasdin yielded an RBI single to Craig Grebeck before giving way to Tom Gordon, who retired Mark Dalesandro on two pitches for his sixth save -- his 49th straight conversion. Wakefield won for the first time since April 8 -- his first start of the season. He struck out seven and gave up four hits and three walks in his longest outing of 1999. He had been 0-4 in his previous six starts, lasting no longer than 5 1/3 innings. It was Wakefield's first win over the Blue Jays since June 25, 1997. DETROIT 6, CLEVELAND 2 ---------------------- CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Jeff Weaver again showed he is not going to let the hard-hitting Cleveland Indians intimidate him. The Detroit Tigers' rookie righthander beat baseball's best team for the second time in a week, allowing one run and six hits over six innings in a 6-2 victory that included a bench-clearing brawl in the bottom of the sixth. Cleveland's Manny Ramirez charged the mound after being hit in the head by Weaver and the benches and bullpens emptied. Ramirez, the major league leader in RBI with 56, was ejected after order was restored. Weaver (5-3) did not let the incident bother him, powering the Tigers to their third straight victory over the Indians, who suffered consecutive defeats for only the second time this season. He walked one and struck out two. The Indians are averaging 7.4 runs per game, but they have been unable to solve Weaver, who recorded a 9-3 victory on Sunday in Detroit. Cleveland, which also dropped two straight at Boston on April 24-25, got its only run off Weaver in the third when Omar Vizquel grounded into a double play. The Tigers have won three straight against the Indians for the first time since reeling off four straight wins on May 22-23 and June 13-14, 1993. It marks the first time Detroit has ever won two in a row at Jacobs Field, where the Tigers are just 7-26. TEXAS 8, BALTIMORE 7 -------------------- BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Juan Gonzalez's three-run homer highlighted a four-run ninth inning as the Texas Rangers rallied for a wild 8-7 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The top four batters in the Rangers' lineup all reached base and came around to score in the ninth as Mike Timlin (1-4) suffered his fourth blown save of the season. Texas was forced to rally from a 6-4 deficit after the Orioles scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to grab the lead. John Wetteland came on for the Rangers in the ninth and immediately surrendered Delino DeShields' fourth homer of the season. But he struck out pinch-hitter Harold Baines, got Charles Johnson to fly out and struck out Brady Anderson for his 13th save in 14 opportunities. Ivan Rodriguez also homered for the Rangers, who won for just the second time in six games following a four-game winning streak. Texas has homered in 10 straight games. Tim Crabtree (3-0), the fourth of five Texas pitchers, earned the victory despite allowing two hits while recording just one out. Baltimore has lost nine of its last 12 games overall but fell for just the third time in nine games at Camden Yards. NY YANKEES 10, CHI WHITE SOX 2 (1ST GAME) ----------------------------------------- CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Roger Clemens waited 24 days to retake the mound and enter the record books. For batterymate Jorge Posada, the wait for a day like this must have seemed to last forever. Clemens tossed six solid innings for his American League-record 18th straight win and Posada broke out of a season-long slump with a homer and five RBI as the New York Yankees topped the Chicago White Sox, 10-2, in the opener of a doubleheader. Pitching for the first time since April 27, Clemens (3-0) allowed just two runs -- one earned -- and six hits, striking out four and walking one. The two-time defending Cy Young Award winner allowed 14 runs over 12 1/3 innings in his last three starts before being placed on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring. Clemens has not lost since May 29, 1998 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. He broke the previous AL record of 17 straight wins set by Cleveland's Johnny Allen from 1936-37 and tied by Baltimore's Dave McNally from 1968-69. Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants holds the major league mark with 24 straight victories from 1936-37. Clemens also earned his 236th career victory, tying him with Yankees Hall of Famer Whitey Ford for 49th all-time. CHI WHITE SOX 2, NY YANKEES 1 (2ND GAME) ---------------------------------------- CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees rarely are a welcome site at most ballparks across the nation, but Mike Sirotka and the Comiskey Park faithful were happy to host the world champions. Sirokta allowed just one run and two hits over eight innings for his second straight impressive peformance against the Yankees as the Chicago White Sox salvaged a doubleheader split with a 2-1 victory in front of their largest home crowd since 1997. Sirotka (2-5) struck out five, walked three and retired 14 straight batters until issuing a ninth-inning leadoff walk to Chad Curtis, who had the Yankees' only two hits. Bob Howry came on and retired Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams but mixed in walks to Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, loading the bases. After Howry balked home Curtis and threw a first-pitch ball to pinch-hitter Chili Davis, Manuel had seen enough and turned to Bill Simas, who caught Davis with a 3-2 fastball on the outside corner to end the game. Davis, normally New York's designated hitter, did not start for the first time this season and was pinch-hitting for Scott Brosius, the Most Valuable Player of the 1998 World Series. The White Sox broke a five-game losing skid, during which they allowed 51 runs. ANAHEIM 8, TAMPA BAY 6 ---------------------- ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- While knuckleballer Steve Sparks could not stop hitting batters, the Anaheim Angels did not stop hitting and pulled out an 8-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Mo Vaughn singled home Darin Erstad with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and had two of Anaheim's 16 hits. Todd Greene led the way with three hits and two RBI for the Angels, who saw every starter get at least one hit. The first six in the order had at least two apiece. Sparks started for Anaheim and tied an American League record by hitting four batters in a nine-inning game, accomplished most recently by Minnesota's Bert Blyleven in 1988. He tied a major league record by plunking three in a row in the third inning, becoming the 17th pitcher to achieve that dubious feat. Sparks lasted five shaky innings, giving up four runs and five hits with six walks and throwing only 45 of 91 pitches for strikes. He hit three batters in his first eight outings this season and plunked only five all of last year. Mark Petkovsek (4-1) relieved and got the win, despite allowing two runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings. After rookie Scott Schoeneweis recorded the final two outs in the eighth, Troy Percival slammed the door in the ninth for his 11th save in 12 chances. Alan Newman (0-1) took the loss, failing to record an out after starting the eighth. SEATTLE 7, KANSAS CITY 4 ------------------------ KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Russ Davis drilled his 10th homer in the sixth inning to help the Seattle Mariners to their season-high sixth straight win, a 7-4 triumph over the Kansas City Royals. Davis smacked a 2-2 pitch over the left-center field fence off Jose Santiago, facing only his second batter, to put Seattle ahead, 5-3. It was Davis' first homer at Kauffman Stadium as the Mariners returned to the .500 mark for the first time since they were 4-4 on April 13. Kansas City halved the deficit in the bottom of the inning when Rey Sanchez lifted a sacrifice fly to shallow right-center, scoring Jermaine Dye. The Mariners got two insurance runs on a wild play in the seventh. David Segui, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, laced a shot to center field that Carlos Beltran had for a moment but dropped for an RBI single. The Royals, thinking Beltran caught it for the third out, started off the field and Ken Griffey Jr. took off for third base. Beltran threw but no one was covering and Griffey was able to score. Griffey went 2-for-4 to stretch his hitting streak to 11 games, during which he is 19-for-43 (.442). MINNESOTA 2, OAKLAND 1 (10 INNINGS) ----------------------------------- MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Todd Walker hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Minnesota Twins handed the Oakland Athletics their season-high fifth straight loss, 2-1. Walker launched a 1-1 pitch from Brad Rigby (2-1) just inside the left-field foul pole for his second home run, giving the Twins their second straight extra-inning win over Oakland. Minnesota needed four hours, 55 minutes before winning in 15 innings on Friday by the same score, ending a six-game losing streak. Oakland had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 10th when Ben Grieve started the inning with a double off Bob Wells (2-1) and went to third on a groundout. But Wells retired pinch-hitter Tim Raines on a comebacker and got Scott Spiezio to fly out. Matt Stairs accounted for Oakland's lone run in the fifth with his 10th homer.  