AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Howe Gets Victory for the Yankees, 4-3

Steve Howe has a court date on a cocaine charge on May 5 and another trial is pending, but he isn’t letting it affect his pitching.

Making his fifth relief appearance for the New York Yankees this season, the left-hander earned his second victory Wednesday night when he retired the last four White Sox batters at Chicago.

Howe, who hasn’t been scored on this season, needed only 11 pitches to dispose of the last four hitters. He became the 4-3 winner when Kevin Maas singled home the winning run in the ninth inning.

Maas’ hit overcame some poor ninth-inning baserunning in a game that was marked by both teams making mistakes on the basepaths. The White Sox had four players thrown out on the bases.

In the ninth, with the score tied, 3-3, Roberto Kelly singled with one out. Mel Hall hit a long drive over center fielder Lance Johnson’s head. Instead of scoring, Kelly missed second base, had to go back and touch it and reached third. But the hit by Maas made that mistake moot.

In addition to faulty baserunning, there were two errors by each team that contributed to the lackluster play.

Cleveland 7, Toronto 2--The Indians spoiled Dave Stieb’s first appearance in almost a year and ended their 13-game losing streak against the Blue Jays.

Stieb underwent surgery last May for a herniated disk and had been on the disabled list.

Glenallen Hill, the second batter Stieb faced, hit a home run, and the Toronto starter gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings. Stieb struck out five.

“I made some mistakes and I paid for them,” Stieb said. “But it felt good to be out there.”

Charles Nagy (3-1), given an early lead, yielded two runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.

It was a costly victory for the Indians and only the fourth loss for the Blue Jays in 16 games. Hill injured his groin and left in the seventh inning. Catcher Sandy Alomar suffered a bruised left quadriceps and departed in the sixth inning.

Baltimore 2, Kansas City 1--A collision temporarily sidelined the right side of the Orioles’ infield, but Baltimore prevailed at Kansas City.

Before crashing into first baseman Randy Milligan, Baltimore second baseman Billy Ripken drove in both runs to give Rick Sutcliffe his third victory and hand the Royals their 13th loss in 14 games.

Ripken’s sinking liner fell for a single in the fifth inning and drove in two runs.

In the bottom of the inning, Milligan and Ripken collided going after a grounder and were sent spinning to the ground. Milligan was knocked out and both went to the hospital for X-rays. Neither was seriously injured.

Baltimore improved to 9-5, its best start since 1973.

Sutcliffe pitched a complete game, giving up six hits. He beat Kevin Appier (0-2), who gave up two runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings. Sutcliffe has an ERA of 1.27.

Detroit 12, Texas 8--Cecil Fielder hit a home run for the third consecutive night at Arlington, Tex., and this time it broke a 7-7 tie and sent the Tigers to victory.

Fielder’s 424-foot blast came after the Tigers wasted a six-run lead.

Fielder also drove in a run in the six-run first inning and has driven in 18 runs in 16 games.

Mickey Tettleton, Rob Deer and Travis Fryman also hit home runs for the Tigers, who won only their fifth game against 11 defeats.

Minnesota 8, Seattle 1--Bill Krueger had an easy time winning his third consecutive start as the Twins won at Seattle.

Krueger, signed as a free agent in late January after Jack Morris signed with Toronto, gave up seven hits in eight innings. He has an ERA of 0.75.

Pedro Munoz and Brian Harper hit home runs as the Twins improved their record to 6-8.

Minnesota, which had 14 hits, won two in a row at Seattle after losing three in a row.

Kevin Mitchell, rejoining the Mariners after missing two games because of a hand injury, singled in a run.

--DAN HAFNER