AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Tartabull’s Three Homers Can’t Stop A’s

Danny Tartabull, who had already hit three home runs, was standing in the on-deck circle in the ninth inning waiting for a chance to hit No. 4.

But Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley got George Brett to line out to center field to end the game Saturday night at Kansas City, giving the surging Athletics’ a 9-7 victory over the Royals.

Despite the slugging of Tartabull, the Royals still lost a club-record eighth consecutive home game.

Tartabull became the first Kansas City player to hit three home runs at Royals Stadium. Tartabull hit solo home runs in the second and sixth innings and his two-run shot in the eighth brought the Royals within two runs. Tartabull, who will play in the All-Star game, has 19 home runs.

Jose Canseco, who was not selected for the AL squad, continued to swing a hot bat. Canseco, who hit a grand slam Friday night for his 21st home run, barely missed another in the sixth inning. His drive hit the top of the wall in left field and Canseco settled for a three-run double. He also had a single in the seven-run rally that enabled Bob Welch (8-5) to get the victory.

Canseco, who has driven in seven runs in the last two games, has 15 extra base hits among his last 20 hits.

Eckersley got the last five outs, throwing 18 pitches to earn his 23rd save.

“I was trying to figure out what I would do if Brett got a hit off me and brought up Tartabull,” Eckersley said. “They had some magic working there.”

“It’s nice to hit three,” Tartabull said, “but it would have been much better if the last one had won the game.”

New York 13, Baltimore 5--Catcher Matt Nokes isn’t disappointed that despite impressive numbers, he wasn’t picked for the All-Star squad. He is content to help the Yankees in their drive to reach .500.

Nokes hit two home runs and drove in six runs at New York as the Yankees won for the seventh time in the last eight games after blowing an early 3-0 lead.

By winning today, the Yankees could go into the break with a 38-38 record.

Nokes has 13 home runs and 43 runs batted in.

“I’m just excited about driving in six runs for the second time,” Nokes said. “I did it in Toronto, but had a grand slam.”

Minnesota 5, Chicago 4--The way things have been going for the Twins lately, when they fell behind, 4-0, after five innings at Chicago, they appeared on their way to another defeat.

They had already lost eight of their previous 10 and were in danger of falling out of first place in the West.

But all they needed were a couple of swings of the bat. The first came from Brian Harper in the seventh, a three-run homer.

“That woke us up,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said.

Then, in the eighth, Kent Hrbek hit a two-run home run and the Twins were still in first place.

Robin Ventura, who won Friday’s game with a home run, hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning to give the White Sox their lead.

Cleveland 2, Milwaukee 0--Greg Swindell is thinking the change in managers will bring about a change in his fortunes.

The talented left-hander gave up only two hits in seven innings at Cleveland, improved to 5-7 and gave Mike Hargrove a victory in his debut. Hargrove replaced John McNamara as manager earlier in the day.

Toronto 4, Seattle 3--John Olerud homered in the 10th inning and the Blue Jays, after rallying in the ninth, beat the Mariners.

Seattle led, 3-2, in the ninth and reliever Mike Jackson retired the first two batters. But Rance Mulliniks hit a pinch single and scored on Devon White’s triple off the right-field wall.

Olerud hit his ninth home run against Russ Swan (3-2). Olerud’s line drive barely cleared the 23-foot wall in right field.

Mike Timlin (7-4) got the victory and Tom Henke pitched the 10th for his 16th save.