Baseball Roundup : Barfield’s 2 Homers Give Him 39

Jesse Barfield is leading the major leagues in home runs and outfield assists. He’d trade them for moving Toronto into first place in the American League East.

Barfield hit his 38th and 39th homers and got his 20th assist Wednesday night as the Blue Jays’ Jimmy Key and Tom Henke stopped the New York Yankees on a six-hitter, 3-0, at New York.

“(But) second place would be better than third,” Barfield admitted after the Blue Jays moved within a half-game of the second-place Yankees. “I could use the extra money for Christmas shopping.

“I set out to hit 35 this year,” added Barfield, who has 6 home runs in his last 9 games. “I don’t go out there swinging for the fences and if I hit them, I hit them.”

Barfield hit solo homers off Ron Guidry (9-12) in the second and ninth innings.

Key (14-11) took a three-hit shutout into the eighth, but then needed help from Henke, who earned his 27th save.

New York’s Don Mattingly, chasing Boston’s Wade Boggs in the AL batting race, went 2 for 4 and raised his average to .350. Boggs went 1 for 4, and his average dipped to .357.

Chicago White Sox 3, Seattle 1--Reid Nichols hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning and drove in all the runs as the White Sox turned back the Mariners at Chicago.

Nichols has six RBIs in two games, after driving in only 12 before Tuesday.

Seattle set an AL strikeout record in the third inning when Harold Reynolds took a called third strike, the 1,126th strikeout of the season for the Mariners. The Mariners, who broke the record of the 1965 Washington Senators, finished the game with 1,132. The major league mark is 1,203, established by the 1968 New York Mets.

Cleveland 12, Minnesota 3--Julio Franco had four hits, and Joe Carter hit a three-run homer to take over the AL lead in runs batted in with 119 as the Indians routed the Twins at Minneapolis.

Tom Candiotti (15-12) scattered eight hits and struck out a career-high 12 batters.

Detroit 2, Milwaukee 1--Chet Lemon’s run-scoring double in the eighth inning boosted the Tigers past the Brewers at Milwaukee.

The defeat spoiled the day for Tom Trebelhorn, who a few hours earlier was named manager of the Brewers for 1987 after handling the job on an interim basis since last Friday.

Oakland 9, Texas 7--Pinch-hitter Terry Steinbach hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to push the A’s past the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

Dave Kingman hit his 35th homer for the A’s.

Houston 5, San Francisco 0--Danny Darwin and three relievers pitched the Astros’ sixth shutout in eight games, and the Giants’ Mike Krukow failed in his attempt to win his 20th game at San Francisco.

Terry Puhl hit a two-run homer and Alan Ashby added a solo shot off Krukow (19-8), who was 6-0 in September. Darwin (5-2) allowed two hits over five innings.

New York Mets 6, Montreal 4--Howard Johnson’s two-out single scored Gary Carter with the go-ahead run in the 10th inning at Montreal, giving the Mets their 104th victory.

Montreal’s Tim Raines, the National League batting leader with a .335 average, did not play.

Darryl Strawberry hit his 25th homer for the Mets.

Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 3--Johnny Ray broke a 3-3 tie with an eighth-inning home run to give the Pirates a victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Cincinnati 6, Atlanta 5--Buddy Bell hit a two-run homer and drove in the winning run with a single in the ninth inning as the Reds beat the Braves at Atlanta for their seventh victory in nine games.

AMERICAN LEAGUE BATTING RACE

Player Team Wednesday Season AB R H G AB R H AVG Wade Boggs Boston 4 0 1 149 580 107 207 .357 Don Mattingly New York 4 0 2 158 658 112 230 .350