American League Roundup : Cowley Pitches a 3-Hitter, but All 3 Clear the Fence as A’s Top White Sox

To hear Joe Cowley tell it, the wind pushed him off the line Johnny Vander Meer occupies in the record book.

Cowley, who pitched a no-hitter against the Angels in his last outing, allowed only three hits Wednesday at Oakland, but all of them went out of the park and gave the Oakland A’s a 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Vander Meer pitched consecutive no-hitters in 1938, but all Cowley has to show for his last 18 innings are no hits that landed inside the ballpark.

“On a normal day, all of those are routine outs,” said Cowley (11-10). “The balls that they hit (out) were all windblown, but other than that, I have no excuses. I pitched well.”

The A’s, who were outhit, 9-3, broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh when Alfredo Griffin hit his fourth homer, a two-run shot, off the right-field foul pole.

Cowley walked Jose Canseco to start the inning, and two outs later, Griffin connected.

“I thought it was foul, but I kept on running because I didn’t see it hit the foul pole,” Griffin said. “I’d never had a hit off him.”

Carney Lansford and Dave Kingman had hit consecutive homers for the A’s in the fourth. Kingman’s 34th homer tied him with Toronto’s Jesse Barfield for the league lead.

Oakland’s Steve Ontiveros (2-2) pitched 1 innings of hitless relief, and Jay Howell got the last two outs for his 15th save.

Chicago scored in the first when Harold Baines doubled in a run and scored on Ivan Calderon’s single.

New York 4, Baltimore 1--Don Mattingly had two hits to regain the AL batting lead and drove in a pair of runs as the Yankees turned back the Orioles at Baltimore.

Mattingly, the 1984 batting champion, improved his average to .351, moving out of a tie with Boston’s Wade Boggs (.350), whose game was rained out. Mattingly singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 23 games, the longest in the major leagues this season and the longest of his career.

Mattingly’s two-run single in the fifth gave New York a 4-1 lead and chased Mike Flanagan (7-11).

Dennis Rasmussen (16-6) scattered six hits over 8 innings. Dave Righetti got the final out for his 42nd save of the season, tops in the majors.

The Orioles have lost 4 in a row and 12 of 16, while the Yankees won for the 26th time in their last 34 games at Memorial Stadium. New York has won 3 straight games and 8 of 11.

The loss was Baltimore’s 81st, meaning the Orioles will not finish with a winning record for the first time in 19 years.

Kansas City 2, Minnesota 1--Frank White hit a solo homer, his 20th home run of the season, in the top of the ninth inning to push the Royals past the Twins at Minneapolis.

The homer was the 46th surrendered this season by Minnesota’s Bert Blyleven (15-14), tying the record set 30 years ago by Robin Roberts. Blyleven also struck out 14 Royals.

Kansas City’s Mark Gubicza allowed only 1 run on 4 hits in 6 innings, and Dan Quisenberry (3-7) finished up.

Toronto 8, Detroit 2--Tony Fernandez and Cecil Fielder hit home runs as the Blue Jays scored six runs in the first inning and trounced the Tigers at Detroit.

The victory kept alive Toronto’s faint hopes in the East, maintaining a tie with New York for second place and moving the Blue Jays within 8 1/2 games of first-place Boston.

Seattle 5, Texas 4--Ken Phelps hit his 24th homer and drove in two runs, and Pete Ladd stopped a Texas rally in the eighth inning as the Mariners beat the Rangers at Seattle.

Texas’ defeat reduced the Angels’ magic number for clinching the West to three and dropped the Rangers 8 1/2 games behind.

Mike Moore (11-12) pitched into the seventh inning to pick up the victory. Jose Guzman (9-15) failed to get out of the fifth.