American League Roundup : Orioles Lose Again, Go Home to Sellout Crowd

May hasn’t started out any better for the Baltimore Orioles than April.

Ivan Calderon hit a three-run home run in the first inning and the White Sox went on to hand the helpless Orioles a 7-3 defeat Sunday at Chicago.

The Orioles, who were 1-22 in the worst April a major league team ever had, are now 0-1 in the new month.

After a disastrous 1-11 trip, the Orioles returned home to a reception usually reserved for winners. The Orioles will play at home tonight against the Texas Rangers before a packed house showing they at least have the support of the home folks.

Melido Perez (2-0), the younger brother of Pascual, given a quick 4-0 cushion, went five innings, giving up a run and five hits. The rocky first inning sent Mike Morgan to his fifth consecutive defeat.

It was the seventh home run in 22 games for Calderon, a right fielder who had several trials before hitting 28 home runs for the White Sox last season and winning a regular job. At 26, he is in no mood to give up life in the big leagues.

Calderon has a chronic pain in his left shoulder, so he has to pull the ball.

“I have to swing hard and go for home runs,” Calderon said. “I can’t hit to right field, the shoulder hurts too much.”

In 1987, his first full season, Calderon batted .293 and drove in 83 runs. This season he is hitting only .208, with 17 RBIs.

“I’m just not going to worry about the average,” he said. “I’m just going to go for home runs and RBIs.”

Everything hurts Frank Robinson and his Orioles.

“It’ll be nice to go home, but it doesn’t matter where you are, you’re going to lose if you don’t play better,” Robinson said.

Texas 5, New York 1--Ranger Manager Bobby Valentine had tried about everything to get his hitters out of their slump. There was extra batting practice and there was lineup juggling.

Before the finale at New York, he came up with still another plan. He didn’t let his players touch a bat until the game started.

With Paul Kilgus and Dale Mohorcic providing strong pitching, the Rangers prevented a three-game sweep.

Although Mike Stanley hit his first home run of the season, the Rangers’ hitting wasn’t really potent. Two double-play grounders and a balk helped them build a 3-1 lead.

Kilgus (3-2) gave up six hits and a run in six innings and Mohorcic, just off the disabled list, picked up his first save with three scoreless innings.

Oakland 8, Cleveland 4--The Athletics are using late-inning lightning to threaten a runaway in the West.

The Athletics went into the ninth inning of this game at Cleveland trailing, 4-2, but they jumped on reliever Doug Jones for seven hits and six runs to win their seventh in a row and take a four-game lead over Chicago.

Stan Javier delivered the big hit, a two-run single with the bases loaded, and Mark McGwire hit a two-run double.

The Athletics have scored 29 runs in the eighth inning and 20 in the ninth inning in just 24 games this season. It’s no surprise they’ve won 17 of them.

Knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti baffled the Athletics for seven innings, giving up only 6 hits and 2 unearned runs to lower his ERA to 1.82, but he was gone when lightning struck.

Detroit 3, Seattle 2--Tiger Stadium is just the right size for catcher Matt Nokes to hit home runs in. He hit two of them in this game to increase his total to seven and account for the Tiger runs.

Jeff Robinson (3-2) rediscovered his fastball, striking out 11 Mariners in 8 innings. Guillermo Hernandez, who doesn’t talk to the media since changing his name from Willie, pitched a scoreless ninth to get his first save since last September.

Minnesota 2, Boston 0--World Series heroes Frank Viola and Gary Gaetti put their talents together at Boston and salvaged a victory for the struggling Twins.

Viola (3-1) pitched a five-hitter for his first shutout of the season and Gaetti hit his fifth home run. The Twins are 9-13 and trail Oakland by seven games.

The Red Sox also had good pitching. Jeff Sellers (0-2) gave up just six hits in eight innings, but, besides giving up Gaetti’s clout, he issued six walks.

Milwaukee 10, Kansas City 6--Rob Deer hit a grand slam to key the attack at Milwaukee and the Brewers survived a shaky ninth to get the victory.

Chris Bosio went into the last inning holding a 10-2 lead, having given up only four hits, but he didn’t retire any of the five batters he faced in the ninth.

Dan Plesac, the third pitcher in the inning, finally got the last two outs for his fifth save.

The Brewers trailed, 2-1, going into the fifth. But former Dodger Greg Brock singled with the bases loaded to drive in two runs in the four-run rally. Deer’s slam, his fifth homer, broke it open in the sixth.