Spring Training / Highlights : Porter Delivers Key Hit as Cards Defeat Tigers

Darrell Porter tripled home Curt Ford and Steve Braun with two out in the eighth inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers Sunday at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Porter also singled home a run in the sixth.

Ron Johnson hit his first homer of the spring for the Tigers and also singled to raise his spring average to .371.

Kirk Gibson singled home Doug Baker in the Detroit first, but St. Louis tied the score in the bottom of the inning on Willie McGee’s run-scoring infield hit.

The Tigers moved ahead 3-1 in the sixth on a fielding error by Cardinal pitcher John Tudor and Johnson’s home run before St. Louis rallied on Porter’s hitting.

Steve Henderson’s two-run single in the ninth inning gave the A’s a 10-10 tie with the Giants, and the teams agreed after two scoreless extra innings to call the game after nearly four hours.

Dusty Baker had a pinch single for Oakland.

Pete O’Brien’s tie-breaking two-run double capped a four-run fifth inning and sent the Texas Rangers to a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros at Pompano Beach, Fla.

Bobby Jones started the Texas fifth with a home run off the Astros’ Ron Mathis. With one out, Curtis Wilkerson, Oddibe McDowell and Toby Harrah singled to tie the score, 2-2, before O’Brien’s hit.

Bill Stein homered for Texas in the eighth.

Montreal shortstop Rene Gonzalez, who is not expected to make the club, hit a grand slam in a six-run first inning and the Expos went on to a 9-6 victory over Baltimore at West Palm Beach, Fla.

U.L. Washington, Montreal’s second-team shortstop behind Hubie Brooks, was 4 for 4 and pushed his Grapefruit League batting average to .579.

Steve Rogers, a likely choice to get his ninth opening day assignment in Cincinnati on April 8, gave up a line-drive home run to Eddie Murray during four shaky innings.

George Brett and Frank White drove in two runs each as the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-4, at Sarasota, Fla.

White’s fourth-inning solo home run, his first this spring, broke a 3-3 tie against White Sox starter Floyd Bannister. White also had an RBI single.

The Boston Red Sox used a double steal to manufacture one run and added an unearned run to defeat the Minnesota Twins, 2-0, despite being held to two hits at Orlando, Fla.

Twins’ starter Ken Schrom held the Red Sox hitless in his six innings.

The Red Sox broke the scoreless tie on a sacrifice fly by Dave Sax in the seventh. In the eighth, Rick Miller walked with two out and scored when Twins’ right fielder Tom Brunansky lost Steve Lyon’s fly ball in the sun and dropped it for a three-base error.

Glenn Wilson had four hits, including a solo home run, and drove in two runs to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Bradenton, Fla.

The loss was Pittsburgh’s eighth straight and left the Pirates with a 1-10 record.