American League Roundup

Miguel Asencio felt a little bit of pressure when he took the mound for the undefeated Kansas City Royals. ``I didn't want to be the first one to lose,'' he said. Asencio

Friday, April 11th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Miguel Asencio felt a little bit of pressure when he took the mound for the undefeated Kansas City Royals.

``I didn't want to be the first one to lose,'' he said.

Asencio made sure he wasn't, allowing one unearned run in five innings as Kansas City beat winless Detroit 4-2 Thursday for its seventh straight win to open the season.

``Everyone played together today, and that's all we are doing this year,'' Asencio said. ``We stay together and we never let our heads get down.''

The Tigers matched the 1962-63 New York Mets as the only teams to lose their first eight games in back-to-back seasons. A loss Friday against the White Sox would make Detroit the only team with consecutive 0-9 starts. The Tigers went 0-11 last year.

``We knew we had some work to do, but this is not what we expected,'' rookie Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. ``Obviously, we want to get a win, but we aren't going to pack our tent because we are 0-8.''

In other AL games, it was New York 2, Minnesota 0; Texas 5, Oakland 4; Boston 8, Toronto 7; Chicago 7, Cleveland 2; Baltimore 4, Tampa Bay 3; and Anaheim 3, Seattle 0.

Raul Ibanez homered and drove in three runs for the Royals, who remained the only undefeated team in baseball and extended their team record for the best start to a season.

``This is a lot of fun,'' Ibanez said. ``It is still early, so things are magnified if you are doing well or doing poorly, but when you can string a bunch of victories together like this, you are definitely going to enjoy it.''

Mike Maroth (0-3) remained winless despite his second quality start of the season. He gave up two runs, five hits and one walk in seven innings.

Yankees 2, Twins 0

At New York, David Wells pitched a three-hitter and Hideki Matsui delivered a two-run double off Rick Reed (0-2) to give the Yankees their fourth straight victory.

The Yankees improved to 8-1, their best start since posting the same record to open the 1988 season. New York sent the defending AL Central champions to their sixth loss in a row.

Wells (2-0) was in control the whole way, never permitting a runner past second base in his 12th career shutout.

Rangers 5, Athletics 4

At Arlington, Texas, Carl Everett hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning off Chad Bradford (1-1) and Mark Teixeira hit his first major league home run as Texas rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Oakland.

Francisco Cordero (1-1) threw a hitless eighth inning to pick up the victory. Ugueth Urbina pitched the ninth for his third save to help the Rangers stop a three-game losing streak.

Scott Hatteberg hit three doubles and reached base five times for the Athletics, who had their nine-game winning streak against the Rangers snapped.

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 7

At Toronto, Johnny Damon homered twice and Trot Nixon drove in four runs as Boston snapped the Blue Jays' five-game winning streak.

Nixon's tiebreaking two-run shot in the eighth inning off Cliff Politte (0-1) gave Boston a 6-4 lead. Nixon went 3-for-3 with a walk for the Red Sox, who avoided a three-game sweep.

Carlos Delgado hit a two-run shot off Mike Timlin (1-0) in the ninth to cut it to 8-7. Delgado has three homers and 13 RBIs in the last four games.

White Sox 7, Indians 2

At Cleveland, Mark Buehrle wasted little time while shutting down Cleveland hitters for seven innings and Magglio Ordonez homered for Chicago.

Working quickly on another chilly night at Jacobs Field, Buehrle (2-1) allowed one run and five hits.

Sandy Alomar Jr. went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. He was 6-for-7 with four RBIs against his former team as the White Sox won two of three in the series.

Orioles 4, Devil Rays 3

At St. Petersburg, Fla., David Segui hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Jesus Colome (0-1) in the eighth, and Sidney Ponson (1-1) allowed three runs over seven innings for Baltimore.

The Orioles lost the first two games of the series despite taking commanding leads. They were up 6-0 before losing 8-7 in 10 innings on Tuesday and blew a 4-0 lead in Wednesday's 10-7 defeat.

Angels 3, Mariners 0

At Seattle, Jarrod Washburn (1-1) pitched five-hit ball for eight innings and Brad Fullmer hit a two-run homer.

Troy Percival worked a hitless ninth for Anaheim's first save of the season. Troy Glaus added an RBI double.

Ryan Franklin (1-1) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings.