McGwire Breaks Rookie HR Mark as A’s Beat Angels

Mike Davis’ single to center field with two-out in the top of the 12th inning scored pinch-hitter Mike Gallego with the winning run to lift the Oakland Athletics to a 7-6 win over the Angels Friday night before a crowd of 36,616 at Anaheim Stadium.

Gallego was running for Tony Bernazard, who had started the winning rally with a double into the right-field corner. The loss dropped the Angels 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins, who defeated the Seattle Mariners, 6-3.

The Athletics had taken a 6-5 lead in the top of the ninth when Mark McGwire, who had earlier set a major league record for home runs by a rookie, singled to center, advanced to second on Dwayne Murphy’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Carney Lansford’s single to left field.

But the Angels came back in the bottom of the ninth, as Wally Joyner opened with a double to right field and scored on pinch-hitter Darrell Miller’s two-out, broken-bat single to right field off reliever Greg Cadaret.

Cadaret had replaced reliever Jay Howell after Joyner’s double and was almost out of the jam, as he got pinch-hitter Bill Buckner to fly out to left field and Gus Polidor to pop out to shortstop. But Miller’s hit, his sixth in his last 16 at-bats, sent the game into extra innings.

The Angels had an opportunity to win the game in the 10th when Brian Downing opened with a walk off reliever Dennis Lamp and moved to second base on Doug DeCinces’ sacrifice bunt.

Pinch-hitter Ruppert Jones was intentionally walked, but Lamp got Bob Boone, who had a two-run double in the second inning, to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Then, in the bottom of the 11th, off left-hander Dave Leiper, Polidor singled to center with two out and raced to third on Miller’s double to left-center field. Devon White walked to load the bases, and Manager Tony LaRussa brought right-hander Rick Rodriguez in to face Downing.

After fouling a ball deep into the left-field corner, Downing bounced back to Rodriguez for the third out.

Friday night was beginning to look like one of those glorious nights for Angel pitcher Don Sutton, who has had his share of memorable moments in Anaheim Stadium.

He struck out Jose Canseco in the first inning for his 3,500th career strikeout, adding yet another souvenir ball to his overloaded trophy case.

He had a no-hitter through four innings and, perhaps, was entertaining thoughts of the first no-hitter of his 22-year career.

Sutton was also sitting atop a 3-0 lead. But things went sour really quickly.

Sooner than you could say Terry Steinbach, Sutton gave up three runs in the fifth inning, two coming on Steinbach’s home run. He gave up two more runs in the sixth on McGwire’s record-breaking 39th home run and, before you knew it, Sutton was watching the game from the dugout.

As it turned out, Sutton was only the first of five Angel pitchers who worked into the 12th inning; he was followed by Chuck Finley (sixth), Greg Minton (eighth), Gary Lucas (ninth), and DeWayne Buice (10th).

McGwire got the A’s first hit, a ground-rule double to open the fifth inning, and advanced to third when Murphy lined Sutton’s next offering to left field for a single.

Lansford’s fly ball to the warning track in center scored McGwire with the Athletics’ first run, and Steinbach tied the game, 3-3, with a two-run homer to left field.

Oakland went ahead in the sixth when Bernazard singled to center and moved up a base when Gary Pettis over-ran the ball. Sutton got Davis to fly to left field and Canseco to ground out to third, but McGwire homered into the left-field bleachers.

Besides giving Oakland a 5-3 lead, McGwire’s blast broke the rookie home run record held by Wally Berger (1930 Boston Braves) and Frank Robinson (1956 Cincinnati Reds), and earned the former Damien High star a standing ovation, which he obliged with a curtain call.

It was curtains for Sutton, too. Angel Manager Gene Mauch pulled the starter in favor of left-hander Finley, who struck out Murphy to end the inning.

The Angels responded to Oakland’s strong-arm tactics with a long ball of their own, Downing’s homer to left field to open the sixth inning. Then, they tied the game in the sixth with a bunt-and-bloop attack.

With one out, Dick Schofield placed a bunt to the right of Curt Young, who fielded the ball but threw past McGwire for an error, allowing Schofield to advance to second. Schofield was credited with a hit on the play.

Polidor then lofted a short fly ball to right field, which landed between Davis and second baseman Bernazard for a run-scoring single and a 5-5 tie.

The Angels had opened a 3-0 lead in the second inning when DeCinces singled and George Hendrick smashed a line drive off the left-field wall to put runners on second and third.

Boone followed with a two-run double up the left-center field gap, moved to third on Joyner’s groundout and scored on Schofield’s infield single.

Angel Notes With the success of right-handed relievers DeWayne Buice (12 saves, 2.56 earned-run average) and Greg Minton (9 saves, 2.68 ERA), Donnie Moore may have become the Angels’ forgotten man. Moore is still recovering from a chronic rib cage problem and sore shoulder, which has kept him out of the lineup for more than five weeks. Moore said he will probably begin throwing from a mound today for the first time since July 8, when he last appeared in a game, against the Boston Red Sox. But there’s really no reason to expect Moore back on the active roster soon. “He’s about the same,” said Roger Williams, Angel physical therapist. Moore began throwing on the sideline about 10 days ago but has been experiencing pain, especially the day after he throws. “He’s also had pain with daily activity, just moving around,” Williams said. “When you have trouble doing that, you can’t go out and pitch. It’s got us all frustrated.” Williams has diagnosed Moore as having a strained rib cage muscle and an irritated nerve in the area of strain, “but why it’s persisted so long has us all baffled.” Said Moore: “I’ve tried everything so far--different exercises, ultra-sound machines,” he said. “It’s very frustrating. I’m sick of this.” Moore said he had no idea when he would be back, but added that he will pitch again this year. Williams wasn’t so sure. “There’s that possibility (of Moore missing the remainder of the season),” he said. “I certainly hope not.”

Don Baylor update: As of Friday night, Baylor was still reluctantly wearing a Red Sox uniform, and Angel General Manager Mike Port was questioning reports in Friday’s papers, which said the teams had agreed on compensation, but that the Angels were holding up the trade. Asked about a possible deal for the former Angel designated hitter, Port said: “You’ll have to ask (Red Sox GM) Lou Gorman; it seems he’s got everything figured out. I’ll have to read tomorrow’s paper to find out about the alleged deal.” Port added that he is still evaluating the situation to see if he can fill the team’s need for additional power from within the organization. . . . For Angel center fielder Gary Pettis, Friday night’s start marked his first since Aug. 7 and his first in the lead-off position since July 24. Pettis has been hampered lately by sore hands, but Mauch didn’t bother to ask him if he was ready to play Friday night. “He’s probably so anxious to play, if I asked him, he’d lie to me,” Mauch said.