Spring Training / Highlights : Vida Blue Is Off to Good Start in Comeback Attempt

Vida Blue, making his first start of the spring, allowed only one run over four innings Friday at Scottsdale, Ariz., to send the San Francisco Giants to a 3-2 Cactus League victory over the San Diego Padres.

Blue has permitted one run in three spring appearances in his attempt at a comeback after being released by Kansas City in 1983 and serving a short sentence on a cocaine-possession charge.

He was touched for a run in the second inning when Kevin McReynolds tripled and Terry Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly.

Slugger Andre Thornton, signed by the Cleveland Indians to a guaranteed four-year, $4.34 million contract in December, learned that he will need surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee.

Thornton, who missed the 1980 season because of a similar injury to his right knee, said he has been slightly troubled by the left leg all spring. After the knee locked up on him while he was running to first base in an exhibition game Thursday at Tucson, he decided to have doctors examine it.

If the surgery can be performed with an arthroscope, Thornton said he could possibly be back in action in four weeks. The extent of the damage, however, won’t be known until he is examined Monday by Dr. John Bergfeld in Cleveland. Thornton will fly back to Cleveland Sunday.

Thornton hit 33 home runs and drove in 99 runs for the Indians last season, playing in 155 games, mostly as a designated hitter.

Cory Snyder, a 22-year-old infielder who was trying to jump directly from the U.S. Olympic baseball team to the major leagues, was reassigned to the Cleveland Indians Double-A minor league affiliate at Waterbury, Conn.

Snyder was one of three non-roster players sent to the Indians’ minor league camp. The others were catcher Andy Allanson and right-handed pitcher John Farrell.

Snyder, 22, a product of BYU, was the Indians’ No. 1 pick in the June, 1984 draft.

His brief tryout with Cleveland included stints at second base, third base and center field. He hit .200, with four hits in 20 at-bats in nine Cactus League exhibition games. Snyder will play third base at Waterbury.

Rickey Henderson, the New York Yankees’ newly obtained center fielder who sprained his left ankle last Sunday, is expected to be ready to play late next week, the team said at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Henderson, whose ankle has been in a soft cast since the injury, had X-rays taken Friday. They were negative and a new cast, which is expected to be on for about five days, was applied.