AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Henderson Picks His Spot and Ties Cobb

Rickey Henderson tied Ty Cobb’s 62-year-old American League record for career stolen bases Saturday at Oakland and the Athletics won their sixth in a row, defeating the Cleveland Indians, 6-3.

“I knew it was a tie,” Henderson said. “It will probably be more exciting when I break (the record). . . . A tie only makes me closer to the record.”

Henderson stole third base with one out in the fifth inning, giving him 892 steals in less than 11 major league seasons. Cobb set the mark in 24 seasons from 1905-28.

“I had an idea of what it meant, but when you see Ty Cobb’s name up there and Rickey tying him with so much left to go, it made a special impression on everybody out there,” Oakland Manager Tony La Russa said.

Only Lou Brock (938) and Billy Hamilton (937) have more career stolen bases. Hamilton played before 1900.

Henderson’s record-tying steal came after he singled to left off Sergio Valdez with one out, and Carney Lansford followed with a single.

On a 1-and-1 pitch to Jose Canseco, Henderson broke for third and catcher Sandy Alomar was unable to make a throw.

“I knew when the ball bounced that I had it,” Henderson said.

“The ball hit me on the thumb,” Alomar said. “But I don’t think I would’ve got him, anyway. If you throw him out one out of 10 times you’re doing good.”

The situation was right for Henderson to run.

“Jose was up at the plate. They’re not going to give him that many fastballs the way he’s been hitting the ball,” Henderson said. “I had been reading the signs, so I knew what was a breaking ball and what was a fastball.

“He put down a breaking ball sign and I knew I was going.”

After the record-tying steal, Henderson was given a standing ovation, and he tipped his cap to the crowd.

“It was more than I expected, but the fans have always been behind me,” Henderson said of the ovation.

Canseco drove in two runs with a fifth-inning single and a seventh-inning ground-rule double. He has 16 runs batted in in his last six games and 35 in May.

Chicago 10, Detroit 4--Ron Karkovice and Ozzie Guillen, the eighth and ninth hitters in the White Sox lineup, had six hits between them, scored four runs, and drove in three at Detroit.

Ken Patterson, making his first appearance his eight days, pitched 2 2/3 no-hit innings to get the win, his first with no losses.

With one out in the sixth inning and Chicago trailing, 4-3, Karkovice singled, his third hit of the game. Guillen and Lance Johnson followed with singles, scoring Karkovice with the tying run.

Jerry Don Gleaton relieved Robinson. Guillen scored on Robin Ventura’s groundout, and Johnson scored on Ivan Calderon’s bunt single. Guillen is hitting .429 (18-42) in his last 12 games.

Detroit’s Cecil Fielder hit his 18th homer in the second inning. He shares the major league lead with Jose Canseco.

Minnesota 6, Boston 5--Kirby Puckett led off the eighth inning with a tiebreaking home run and Gene Larkin had his first two-homer game in the major leagues at the Minneapolis.

Puckett’s homer, his sixth of the season, was a 449-foot drive over the center-field fence off Rob Murphy (0-2) and broke a 5-5 tie. It was one foot short of the longest home run hit at the Metrodome this year--by Kent Hrbek on May 9 against Cleveland.

Kansas City 9, New York 4--Tom Gordon pitched a seven-hitter and Jim Eisenreich and Rey Palacios each drove in three runs at Kansas City.

Gordon (2-2) struck out nine and walked one in his first victory since April 22. He had a three-hit shutout through seven innings before the Yankees scored four runs. Steve Sax’s bases-loaded single drove in the first two and a third scored when center fielder Bo Jackson allowed the ball to get past him. Sax scored on Roberto Kelly’s grounder.

Baltimore 7, Texas 5--Billy Ripken and Joe Orsulak scored on a double steal and two throwing errors in the 11th inning at Arlington, Tex.

Ripken led off the 11th with a walk off loser Jeff Russell (1-4) and was sacrificed to second. After an intentional walk to Orsulak, Russell struck out Cal Ripken on a 3-and-2 pitch with both runners moving.

Catcher John Russell’s throw glanced off third baseman Steve Buechele’s glove and into foul territory, allowing Billy Ripken to score. Buechele’s throw to the plate was wild, allowing Orsulak to score.

Toronto 11, Seattle 4--John Olerud’s two-run single broke a seventh-inning tie and George Bell and Kelly Gruber hit three-run homers as the Blue Jays scored seven runs in the last three innings at Seattle.

Seattle’s Brian Holman (6-3) gave up 11 hits and six runs in 6 1/3 innings as he lost for the first time since April 30.

Toronto starter Todd Stottlemyre allowed only one hit through the first five innings, but Seattle tied the game with three runs in the sixth. Frank Wills (4-2) came on and got Mike Brumley to ground into an inning-ending double play and pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings for the victory.

GRAND LARCENY Oakland’s Rickey Henderson tied Ty Cobb Saturday as the leading base-stealer in American League history. He needs 47 to become baseball’s all-time leader. Baseball’s top 10 base stealers:

Name Seasons Total Lou Brock 1961-79 938 Rickey Henderson 1979- 892 Ty Cobb 1905-28 892 Eddie Collins 1906-30 743 Max Carey 1910-29 738 Honus Wagner 1897-17 720 Joe Morgan 1963-84 689 Bert Campaneris 1964-83 649 Tim Raines 1979- 601 Willie Wilson 1976- 597