Blue Jays: Roger Clemens has started 15 times after a Blue Jays loss and is 9-4 in those games. Clemens had not allowed a homer since Detroit's Tony Clark connected on July 12, a span of 97 innings.

Devil Rays: Tony Saunders (Glen Burnie) improved to 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA in three September starts after going 1-4 with a 5.08 ERA in August. Sanders has received the lowest run support in the AL at 3.34 runs per nine innings. The Devil Rays have scored two runs or less in 15 of his 30 starts. Tampa Bay, with 60 victories, needs to win three of its last 12 games to avoid 100 losses.

Indians: Manager Mike Hargrove said before the game that he will use a four-man rotation in the AL Division Series, but wouldn't say who made the cut. Bartolo Colon, whose next start is Sunday, will have to pitch his way into the rotation. Charles Nagy, Dwight Gooden, Jaret Wright and Dave Burba all are pitching better.

Tigers: Sean Runyan, Detroit's third pitcher, made his 84th appearance of the season, breaking the major-league rookie record of 83 by former Tigers pitcher Mike Myers in 1996.

Yankees: Darryl Strawberry began serving a three-game suspension for his involvement in a bench-clearing brawl during a loss to Toronto last Friday night. Manager Joe Torre said he's leaning toward going with a 10-man pitching staff and four-man starting rotation in the playoffs.

Pub Date: 9/17/98