AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Johnson Strikes Out 16 as Mariners Win

Randy Johnson is the definition of a stopper .

He has stopped a four-game losing streak, two three-game skids and three two-game droughts this year for the Seattle Mariners.

Saturday night was the end of a two-game Mariner losing streak, and Johnson did it in style, striking out 16 Toronto Blue Jays in a 3-0 victory at Seattle.

Johnson gave up only three hits and tied Dodger pitcher Hideo Nomo for the most strikeouts in a game this season.

The two pitchers faced each other as starters in Tuesday’s All-Star game.

Johnson (10-1) leads the majors with 168 strikeouts. He walked two in his second shutout of the year and 14th of his career.

He made his second-half debut at the right time for Seattle. The Mariners lost the first two games of the Toronto series to dip to a season-low three games under .500.

The left-hander won his fourth in a row and pitched his fourth complete game of the season.

In the sixth, Johnson delighted the Kingdome crowd of 36,037 when he got Joe Carter to foul out to end the inning with the bases loaded. Johnson loaded the bases on Domingo Cedeno’s second infield single and two walks.

Johnson came back to strike out the side in the seventh and eighth innings. He did not strike out a batter in the ninth.

Baltimore 9, Kansas City 1--Kevin Appier, the major leagues’ first 11-game winner, lost his fourth in a row, giving up six early runs in the Royals’ loss at Baltimore.

He was 11-2 on June 23, but is now 11-6 and his earned-run average in his last four starts is 9.97.

Seldom-used Leo Gomez homered and matched his career-high with four runs batted in. Harold Baines went four for four, and Cal Ripken Jr. and Brady Anderson each had three of Baltimore’s season-high 17 hits.

Appier, who pitched two perfect innings in the All-Star game, gave up eight hits and hit a batter in two-plus innings.

Cleveland 7, Oakland 2--Orel Hershiser, his trademark sinker working impeccably, won for the first time in more than a month, and Manny Ramirez homered and drove in three runs for the Indians in a victory at Cleveland.

Alvaro Espinoza also drove in three runs for the Indians, who have won 13 of their last 17 games to improve baseball’s best record to 49-21. Oakland has lost 10 of 13 overall and nine in a row against Cleveland.

Hershiser (6-4) gave up two runs on Terry Steinbach’s second-inning homer, but got 17 of his 21 outs on ground balls, winning for the first time since June 5.

In his previous four starts--a stretch interrupted by a stint on the disabled list because of a sprained back--Hershiser was 0-3 with a 6.55 ERA.

Steve Ontiveros (8-4) yielded six runs, seven hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season.

Minnesota 8, New York 5--Kirby Puckett hit a three-run homer and Pedro Munoz had a controversial home run at New York, where the Twins beat the Yankees.

Puckett connected in the first inning off Scott Kamieniecki (0-2), pitching for the Yankees for the first time since injuring his elbow May 5. Kamieniecki gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Munoz was credited with a solo home run in the third inning that tied it, 4-4. First base umpire Rich Garcia called Munoz’s opposite-field drive fair, even though television replays indicated it was foul.

Texas 7, Boston 2--Kevin Gross, near the bottom of the AL pitching statistics in several categories, gave up only five hits in 7 2/3 innings for the Rangers in a victory at Boston.

Rusty Greer, who had two RBIs in his previous 17 games, singled in two runs for the Rangers off Erik Hanson (7-3). Greer went three for four after getting six hits in his previous 52 at-bats.

Milwaukee 9, Chicago 5--Fernando Vina tripled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning after a 2 1/2-hour rain delay, and the Brewers won at Milwaukee.

Darryl Hamilton drove in a season-high four runs and Greg Vaughn homered for the second game in a row.

White Sox reliever Rob Dibble, who sparked a brawl and drew a three-game suspension for throwing at Pat Listach on June 29, came on to face Listach in the eighth. Dibble, who is appealing the suspension, walked Listach on five pitches.