MAJOR LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Fielder, Canseco Are Stuck on 44 at the Finish

Neither Detroit’s Cecil Fielder nor Oakland’s Jose Canseco hit home runs Sunday as they ended the major league regular season tied for the American League title with 44.

Fielder had three hits in the Tigers’ 7-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles, including the last hit at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, which is being closed after 38 years. Fielder, who led the league in home runs last season, has 95 homers in the past two years, tying the 10th highest two-season total.

Fielder also won the AL runs batted in championship with 133 to become the first player to lead the league in consecutive seasons since Roger Maris in 1960-61.

In the Oakland Athletics’ 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers, Canseco had only one hit and did not come close to homering at Arlington, Tex. Canseco hit only one home run in his final nine games, while Fielder had only one in his last 15.

Texas’ Julio Franco had two hits and won the AL batting championship with a .341 average, ahead of Boston’s Wade Boggs, who finished at .332, and Milwaukee’s Willie Randolph, who was third at .327.

Franco became the first second baseman to win the AL batting title since Rod Carew in 1975. Only three right-handers have won the title in the past 21 years. The others were Carney Lansford in 1981 and Kirby Puckett in 1989.

In the National League, it was a big year for Howard Johnson of the New York Mets. Johnson became the first switch-hitter to lead the National League in RBIs (117) and only the fourth switch-hitter to lead his league in home runs (38).

Houston 8, Atlanta 3--With all the regulars taking the day off, the Braves finished their remarkable worst-to-first season with a loss before a sellout Atlanta crowd.

The crowd of 42,764 helped the Braves set a season attendance record of 2,140,217. The previous record was 2,119,935 set in 1983.

Pete Harnisch (12-9) got the victory, giving up three hits and three runs in five innings. Xavier Hernandez worked three scoreless innings before Curt Schilling came on in the ninth.

Toronto 3, Minnesota 2--In the finale of their AL playoff preview, Rob Ducey atoned for a seventh-inning error by leading off the 10th inning with a home run at Toronto.

The Blue Jays, who will be at the Metrodome for Game 1 on Tuesday, won the season series, 8-4, and finished with a 91-71 record. The Twins ended up 95-67, a 21-game improvement over 1990’s last-place showing.

New York Yankees 7, Cleveland 4--Kevin Maas hit two home runs and the Indians finished with their 105th loss of the season at New York.

Cleveland, which won 57 games, had the most losses in club history and the most in the majors since Baltimore lost 107 in 1988. The Yankees finished fifth in the American League East at 71-91, a small improvement from 1990’s 67-95 record.

Milwaukee 6, Boston 3--Roger Clemens struck out 10 and finished tied for the major league lead at 241, but the Red Sox lost at home on Darryl Hamilton’s tie-breaking, two-run single in the ninth inning.

Clemens (18-10) pitched his 13th complete game, but gave up 13 hits and five earned runs.

Milwaukee won its fifth consecutive game and finished 83-79, fourth in the American League East. Boston finished at 84-78.

Pittsburgh 7, Montreal 0--John Smiley became a 20-game winner with seven shutout innings as the Pirates tuned up for the NL playoffs against the Braves at Pittsburgh.

Smiley (20-8) joined Atlanta’s Tom Glavine as the only 20-game winners in the NL this season. Smiley’s previous career best was 13-11 in 1988.

The Pirates finished 98-64, the major leagues’ best record.

Chicago Cubs 7, St. Louis 3--The Cubs ended a disappointing season with a victory at Chicago as Andre Dawson hit two home runs in a game for the 33rd time in his career.

The two solo shots gave Dawson 31 home runs in 1991, his third 30-homer season. Greg Maddux earned his 15th victory.

The Cubs , picked by many to win the National League East, finished fourth at 77-83. The Cardinals, selected by the experts to finish last, came in a surprising second with an 84-78 record.

Chicago White Sox 3, Seattle 2--The most successful season in Seattle history ended with a loss as the White Sox won behind home runs from Dan Pasqua and Matt Merullo at Seattle.

Seattle finished at 83-79 for the first winning season in the 15 years of the franchise. Chicago was second in the AL West for the second consecutive season at 87-75, a dropoff from 94 victories last year. The victory was Jeff Torborg’s 250th in three years as Chicago’s manager.