American League Roundup : Yankees’ 15-14 Victory Over Blue Jays Gives Them Lead in the East

Dave Winfield hit a two-out grand slam in the eighth inning Monday night and the New York Yankees, who earlier had squandered a seven-run lead, came back to beat the Blue Jays, 15-14, at Toronto to take over first place in the East.

Winfield, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning, connected off Toronto reliever Tom Henke (0-3) for the Yankees’ second grand slam of the game, which tied a major league record. Don Mattingly hit the first one in the second inning as New York was building a lead that would become 11-4 after 5 1/2 innings.

Toronto closed to within three, 11-8, and then went ahead with six runs in the seventh, 14-11. But the Yankees came back with four runs in the top of eighth to take the lead for good, thanks to Winfield’s 18th home run.

In all, the teams combined for eight homers to tie the major league high for a game this season. Among those was a two-run inside-the-park home run by Ron Kittle.

Dave Righetti (5-3) pitched three innings for the win, allowing four hits and three unearned runs.

Boston 14, Baltimore 3--Wade Boggs, who leads the majors in hitting at .384, drove in a career-high seven runs with a grand slam, a triple and a single, at Boston. It was his 28th multi-hit game of the year.

Marty Barrett, Todd Benzinger, Mike Greenwell, Bill Buckner and Rich Gedman had two hits each as the Red Sox handed Baltimore its 25th loss in 30 games. Greenwell, a rookie who entered the game when left fielder Jim Rice twisted his left knee trying to catch a fly ball in the first inning, drove in three runs with a single in the bottom of the inning, a double in the second and a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Bruce Hurst, 9-5 overall and 7-1 in 10 Fenway Park starts, allowed 10 hits and struck out seven without any walks in his ninth complete game of the season. Baltimore’s Dave Schmidt (8-2) had a six-game winning streak snapped after he allowed four runs in the first inning.

Chicago 5, Oakland 2--Harold Baines and Ivan Calderon hit back-to-back homers in the third inning, and Richard Dotson struck out seven and pitched his third complete game of the season at Chicago as the White Sox won for only the sixth time in June.

Baines hit his 10th home run of the season and 150th of his career with two out in the third, giving Chicago a 2-1 lead. Three pitches later, Calderon got his 10th homer, also off Young, who left the game in the fourth with a strained left biceps.

The A’s, who hit 10 home runs in the previous two games, managed only two extra-base hits off Dotson (5-5): Carney Lansford’s double with two outs in the third and Tony Phillips’ two-out RBI double in the eighth. Mark McGwire, who had eight hits and five home runs in his last two games, was hitless.

Kansas City 3, Minnesota 2--Bo Jackson hit his 16th home run of the season to cap a three-run rally in a fifth inning at Kansas City that was delayed twice by rain, once for 20 minutes and then for 93, ending the game. It was the fifth straight loss for the Twins.

After the first rain delay, Frank White singled and went to third when Jim Eisenreich doubled to center. Then, with Jackson batting, Minnesota pitcher Les Straker (3-5) dropped the ball during his windup and was charged with a balk, White scoring and Eisenreich advancing to third. Eisenreich then scored on a wild pitch before Jackson hit the game-winner on a 3-2 pitch.

Detroit 11, Milwaukee 1--Jack Morris (11-3) allowed two hits in seven innings, and Tom Brookens drove in three runs to lead the Tigers at Milwaukee.

The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning off Chris Bosio (3-2), who was making his first start of the season after 27 relief appearances. The lead grew to 5-0 in the third against Bosio and his replacement, John Henry Johnson.

Texas 4, Seattle 3--Pete O’Brien singled home Jerry Browne from second base in the eighth inning at Arlington, Tex., to give the Rangers their fifth straight win.

Mitch Williams (5-3) relieved Greg Harris in the eighth inning and earned the victory. Harris, a converted reliever, went seven innings, his longest outing since September, 1982, and allowed just three hits and a walk.

“It’s been a very good month for me,” said O’Brien, who hit .356 in June to raise his average 59 points from .224. “I didn’t contribute much during May, so it’s nice to be helping this much in June.”