American League Roundup : Baker’s Three-Run Homer Lifts A’s to 4-3 Win

With two out in the ninth inning, Dusty Baker, playing in Kansas City’s Royals Stadium for the first time, hit a three-run homer off Dan Quisenberry to give the Oakland A’s a 4-3 victory over the Royals Monday night.

“In batting practice I couldn’t come close to hitting the ball out,” Baker said. “This is a big, big park.”

He said he went to the plate hoping for a simple hit to keep the ninth-inning rally alive.

“I was trying to use the (artificial) turf, to tell you the truth,” Baker said. “But instead I hit a home run. This place is not so bad.”

It was Oakland’s fifth victory in six games and moved the A’s within one game of the division-leading Angels in the American League West.

“There’s still a long way to go,” said Oakland Manager Jackie Moore. “But if somebody had told me when we left spring training that we would be one game out of the lead on July 2, I would have been very happy. I am very happy.”

Baker, who drove in Oakland’s first run with a third-inning grounder, lashed a 2-1 pitch deep into the left-field bullpen for his 10th home run of the season to give the A’s a 4-2 lead just when it appeared that Quisenberry would pitch out of trouble.

Rob Picciolo opened the Oakland ninth inning with an infield single, only the fourth hit off Royal starter Danny Jackson (6-5). Alfredo Griffin followed with a sacrifice bunt and the A’s had two runners on base when Jackson threw too late to get Picciolo at second.

Quisenberry took over and Donnie Hill sacrificed and Carney Lansford fouled out before Baker hit his home run.

The victory went to Keith Atherton (4-4), who relieved Don Sutton at the start of the eighth. Jay Howell got his 17th save but not before he allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth on Willie Wilson’s single, a walk to Lonnie Smith, George Brett’s infield hit and Jorge Orta’s sacrifice fly. John Wathan grounded out to end the game.

Detroit 7, Baltimore 1--Darrell Evans, Kirk Gibson and Larry Herndon hit home runs as the Tigers won at Baltimore.

“You can’t defense the ones that go over the wall,” said Baltimore Manager Earl Weaver. “They got eight hits and we got seven but we weren’t in the game. That’s the power of the home run.”

Randy O’Neal (4-1) scattered six hits in seven innings but needed relief help from Willie Hernandez, who pitched the final two innings.

Lance Parrish started a three-run Tiger second inning off loser Scott McGregor (6-7) with a double. Chet Lemon bunted for a base hit, sending Parrish to third. Herndon’s sacrifice fly scored Parrish and Evans followed by lining his 15th homer into the right field seats to make it 3-0.

Gibson hit his 17th homer with two out in the third and Herndon belted his sixth homer in the fourth, chasing McGregor in favor of Sammy Stewart.

New York 4, Toronto 1--Don Mattingly hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and spark the Yankees to victory before a Canada Day crowd of 41,476 at Toronto.

“With two outs in the eighth inning and the game tied I was definitely looking to hit something in the air,” said Mattingly, who raised his league-leading run-batted in total to 53.

Mattingly’s homer made a winner of Joe Cowley (7-3), who limited the Blue Jays to three hits in eight innings before Dave Righetti pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save.

The victory moved the Yankees within 6 1/2 games of the first-place Blue Jays in the AL East.

Cowley yielded only two infield singles and a double, struck out two and walked two.

Milwaukee 5, Boston 1--Cecil Cooper hit two doubles and drove home two runs and Paul Molitor and Earnest Riles each had two hits to lead the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Pete Vuckovich (3-5) pitched the first six innings and allowed one run on five hits. Bob Gibson pitched three innings for his fifth save.

Cleveland 5, Minnesota 2--George Vukovich hit a three-run homer and Jerry Willard had an RBI double at Minneapolis as the Indians won back-to-back games for the first time since May 19. The Twins had won four straight.

Vern Ruhle (2-3) struck out two and walked one over 6 innings in his fourth start since returning from the disabled list June 16 when he was sidelined with a bruised lower left rib.

Seattle 3, Chicago 1--Al Cowens hit a three-run homer with one out in the eighth inning to break up a scoreless tie at Chicago and Frank Wills and two relievers combined on a five-hitter as the Mariners won for the 12th time in 15 games and moved into fourth place, ahead of Chicago, in the AL West.

The loss was the White Sox’s sixth in a row and eighth in a row at home, their longest losing streak at Comiskey Park since 1976. The game marked the 75th anniversary of baseball’s oldest park.