BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Viola Slows Blue Jays With One-Hitter, 1-0

Frank Viola took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before giving up a leadoff single to Devon White and the Boston Red Sox slowed the Blue Jays’ pennant drive with a 1-0 victory Wednesday night at Toronto.

Viola, pitching on only three days’ rest by his own request, came close to giving up a hit twice before White lined a single on a 2-and-2 pitch.

Viola got two good defensive plays from teammates to keep the no-hitter going. Ed Sprague sent a sinking liner to center with two on and two out in the second, but Herm Winningham was playing in and made a knee-high catch.

Second baseman Tim Naehring went deep toward second to throw out Derek Bell leading off the eighth.

John Valentin’s opposite-field homer in the fourth provided the offense.

Seattle 7, Milwaukee 4--Chris Bosio had his 10-game winning streak ended and the Brewers failed to take advantage of Toronto’s loss by losing at Seattle.

The Brewers remained 2 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East, leaving Toronto with a magic number of two.

Texas 7, Oakland 3--Jose Canseco, playing at Oakland Coliseum for the first time as a member of the Rangers, had a run-scoring single and Juan Gonzalez hit his 41st home run to tie Mark McGwire for the major league lead.

Chicago Cubs 6, Pittsburgh 0--Greg Maddux joined Atlanta’s Tom Glavine as the National League’s only 20-game winners, scattering seven hits at Chicago.

San Francisco 1, Atlanta 0--Jeff Brantley of the Giants threw 5 1/3 shutout innings at Atlanta to run his scoreless streak to 20 1/3 innings.

Chicago White Sox 4, Minnesota 3--Robin Ventura had a tiebreaking home run to lead off the eighth and doubled at Minneapolis.

Houston 5, San Diego 4--Eric Anthony hit two two-run homers to lead the Astros at Houston.

New York Yankees 4, Cleveland 2--Melido Perez gave up three hits in eight innings for the Yankees at Cleveland.

St. Louis 3, Montreal 2--The Cardinals completed the three-game sweep at St. Louis as Ray Lankford singled in the winning run with one out in the 11th inning.

New York Mets 6, Philadelphia 2--Chico Walker drove in three runs and five Phillie errors led to three unearned runs at New York.

Detroit 4, Baltimore 2--The Tigers got six doubles and turned four double plays in their final home game of the season.