American League Roundup : Red Sox Keep a Tight Rein on Athletics, Win Second in a Row, 5-2

For considerably more than half of the season, the Oakland Athletics--arguably the most talented team in baseball--were decimated by injuries.

Jose Canseco, the American League’s most valuable player, missed the first 89 games because of a broken wrist. When he returned, he had to undergo spring training while the season was in progress.

Dennis Eckersley, one of most effective relief pitchers in baseball, missed two months because of a shoulder injury. Several other regulars also were sidelined.

But the Athletics were more than merely competitive, as they continued to battle for first place in the West.

For more than a month, they have enjoyed good health. You would have expected the Athletics to pull away from the field. But they aren’t.

John Dopson and Dennis Lamp combined on a six-hitter Saturday at Boston and the Red Sox beat the Athletics, 5-2. It was Boston’s second victory in a row over the West leaders.

Instead of pulling away, as they threatened to do last week, the Athletics have let Kansas City and the Angels back in the race. Despite losing, the Athletics maintained their 3 1/2-game lead as both the Angels and Royals lost Saturday.

The Red Sox, who ended an eight-game losing streak with a 7-2 victory Friday night, took advantage of the wildness of Storm Davis (17-7) and led, 5-1, through six innings despite getting only three hits.

The Athletics had runners on second and third with nobody out to open the game, but Dopson (11-7) struck out Canseco and escaped after having allowed only one run. The A’s didn’t score again until Dave Henderson hit his 13th home run of the season with one out in the ninth.

“I don’t think you ever tolerate mistakes well, whatever time of year it is,” Oakland Manager Tony La Russa said after watching his team commit three errors and Davis walk five in 5 1/3 innings.

“I wish I could explain what was wrong,” Davis said. “I just didn’t really feel nice and loose.”

Toronto 3, Cleveland 2--Nine innings often isn’t enough when the Blue Jays and Indians get together. And when they have gone into extra innings lately, the Blue Jays have won.

George Bell opened the 11th inning at Toronto with a double and scored the winning run when shortstop Luis Aguayo bobbled Tony Fernandez’s grounder with none out and the bases loaded.

It was the third time in their last five meetings that they have gone into extra innings. The Blue Jays won at Cleveland in 16 innings last Friday and in 10 innings last Saturday.

Joe Carter hit an 0-and-2 pitch by Dave Stieb with two out in the first inning for his 33rd home run and Dave Clark hit his eighth in the second inning for the Cleveland runs. In the bottom of the second, Fernandez hit his 10th home run.

Bell, who has been a factor in the Blue Jays’ late-season surge, scored the tying run in the sixth when he opened with a bloop single and eventually scored on Fernandez’s sacrifice fly.

“You’ve got to have these types of wins when you’re going down the stretch,” Blue Jay Manager Cito Gaston said. “The good teams usually win these games. Having a bullpen like ours doesn’t hurt. They did an outstanding job today.”

Duane Ward replaced Stieb and and held the Indians to one hit in 3 2/3 innings, striking out five. David Wells (7-4) got the last two outs in the top of the 11th.

Baltimore 7, Kansas City 5--Slumping Bob Melvin snapped an eighth-inning tie with a two-out, two-run single to give the Orioles the victory over the Royals at Baltimore.

The win kept the Orioles 1 1/2 games behind first-place Toronto in the East. The start of the game was delayed by one hour and 23 minutes by rain.

After the Royals scored twice in the eighth to tie the score, 5-5, Melvin lined a 1-0 pitch from Steve Farr to score Randy Milligan and pinch-runner Steve Finley.

Milligan walked with one out and went to third on a pinch single by Larry Sheets. Finley ran for Sheets and stole second. Steve Farr relieved and struck out Craig Worthington, but Melvin singled. Until his game-winning hit, Melvin had only five hits in his last 45 at-bats and had not driven in a run since Aug. 26.

The Royals missed an opportunity to move to within 2 1/2 games of the Athletics in the West.

Milwaukee 5, Texas 3--Dan Plesac pitched a perfect ninth at Milwaukee to set a Brewer record for saves with his 98th.

Paul Molitor’s run-scoring single capped a four-run fifth that carried the Brewers to their eighth win in the last nine games.

Minnesota 8, Detroit 7--Kent Hrbek continued his sensational hitting, and Allan Anderson won his 16th at Minneapolis.

Hrbek drove in five runs for the second time this week. In the last six games, he has hit three home runs and driven in 14 runs.

Kirby Puckett had three hits, raising his average to .339.

New York 4, Seattle 1--Eric Plunk walked six batters in five innings but improved his record to 7-5 in a game called by rain after six innings at New York.

Mark Blowers, the Yankees’ rookie third baseman, drove in his first two runs with a pair of singles. Blowers, who came to the Yankees in the trade that sent John Candelaria to the Montreal Expos, had batted 14 times without an RBI.