Griffey Delivers Three Homers, Six RBIs

Ken Griffey Jr. hit three home runs in a game for the first time and tied a career high with six runs batted in, powering the Seattle Mariners past the New York Yankees, 10-4, Friday night at Seattle.

Griffey set a team record by scoring five runs, and went four for four with a walk.

Griffey hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, a three-run drive in the sixth and a solo shot in the eighth. He also singled.

Last Tuesday, Griffey became the seventh-youngest player in major league history to reach 200 homers. He has four multi-homer games this season and 18 in his career.

Sterling Hitchcock (4-2), acquired during an offseason trade with the Yankees, allowed eight hits and three earned runs in seven innings. He became the first Seattle starter to last at least six innings since he did so on May 8.

Griffey’s final homer came off Steve Howe.

Cleveland 6, Detroit 3--Albert Belle hit two home runs as the Indians handed the Tigers their ninth consecutive loss at Detroit.

Belle hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, then led off the eighth with another homer for a 4-3 lead. He leads the majors with 19 home runs.

Belle had three hits and scored three times. He has eight home runs in his last 15 games.

Manny Ramirez and Kenny Lofton also homered as Cleveland won for the 10th time in 12 games before 26,967, second-largest of the season at Tiger Stadium.

Thousands of Indian fans, many unable to get tickets to sold-out Jacobs Field, made the three-hour drive to Detroit for the three-game weekend series.

Travis Fryman homered for Detroit, which has lost 29 of 32, including 13 of its last 15 home games.

Minnesota 4, Toronto 0--Rich Robertson pitched his first career shutout and won for the first time in eight decisions as the Twins beat the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Robertson (1-7) gave up four hits--leadoff singles in the first and third innings, a two-out triple in the sixth and a one-out double in the seventh. He struck out eight and walked three.

Robertson has three complete games in 11 starts, including each of his last two outings. The Twins have scored only 16 runs in his seven losses.

Chuck Knoblauch went three for four, scored Minnesota’s first run and made it 4-0 with an RBI single in the fifth.

Chicago 4, Milwaukee 3--Ron Karkovice hit a solo home run with two outs in the eighth inning as the White Sox beat the Brewers at Chicago for their sixth consecutive victory.

Karkovice connected off Steve Sparks (3-5) for his third home run.

Larry Thomas (2-3) got one out for the victory, and Roberto Hernandez pitched a scoreless ninth for his 13th save.

Baltimore 5, Oakland 4--Gregg Zaun singled home the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning as the Orioles came back to beat the Athletics at Baltimore.

It was the 10th win in 13 games for the Orioles. Jeffrey Hammonds’ three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth tied it at 4-4.

Baltimore’s Roberto Alomar stretched his hitting streak to 10 games and kept his major league leading batting average at .400 by going two for five.

Kansas City 8, Texas 0--Mark Gubicza pitched a four-hitter in his second consecutive strong start, and the Royals stretched their winning streak to five by beating the Rangers at Kansas City.

Gubicza (4-6) retired 14 consecutive batters--11 on grounders--before Warren Newsome doubled with two outs in the fifth.

He struck out two and walked none in his 16th career shutout, the first since last Sept. 28 against the Chicago White Sox. It was his first complete game this season, the 41st of his career.

In his previous start against Texas, Gubicza gave up a career-high nine runs and 12 hits in four innings on May 14.

After losing, 3-2, to Toronto last Sunday on Ed Sprague’s two-run homer, the usually calm Gubicza paced the Royal clubhouse muttering profanities.