American League Roundup : Canseco Comes Back, Lifts A’s Past Twins

Jose Canseco has a bruised knee. It was so painful Friday night, he sat out a game for the first time this season.

This being the weekend of an important series with the World Series champion Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics’ outfielder returned to action Saturday at Oakland.

Canseco hit his major leagues-leading 19th home run and drove in all four runs in a 4-3 victory over the Twins that restored the A’s margin in the American League West to six games. The surging Twins had beaten Oakland Friday night with six runs in the ninth.

Canseco singled in a run in the first and hit a three-run home run in the third, and pitchers Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley kept the Twins a run short.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that if it was September, he would have played (Friday) night,” Manager Tony LaRussa said. “But a day off helps everybody. I don’t think there’s anybody in the league who has played better than Jose in all respects.”

Welch pitched 7 innings to improve his record to 9-4. It was the first win in a month for the former Dodger right-hander, although he pitched poorly only once in his previous five starts.

Eckersley came in with a 4-2 lead, with two on and one out. He got Gary Gaetti to fly out, but Gene Larkin doubled home a run. Kent Hrbek was given an intentional walk, but Eckersley struck out pinch-hitter Kelvin Torve, who was making his major league debut.

Detroit 7, Toronto 2--Dave Stieb was going for his 10th consecutive victory, but he ran into a team doing just about everything right.

Gary Pettis, a .213 hitter who was hitless in 18 at-bats, hit a three-run home run to climax a four-run second inning. The wind-aided home run helped Doyle Alexander (7-4) breeze to victory before 45,091 at Toronto.

Alexander gave up eight hits in eight innings as the defending East champions picked up their 15th victory in 22 games.

Stieb got five of the first six outs on strikeouts, but unfortunately for him, the wind was blowing out to right. Darrell Evans opened the second with his eighth home run. After a walk and a double, Pettis lifted a fly into the wind, which carried the ball over the fence for his second home run.

“Lately, I haven’t been doing too well at the plate, so I was just trying to hit the ball,” Pettis said. “I had no intention of hitting a home run. I knew I hit it well, and I figured the way the wind was blowing, it had a chance.”

New York 4, Cleveland 1--Jack Clark hit a two-run home run in the third inning at New York to provide Tommy John with all the offense he needed.

John, 45, is the oldest player in the majors. He is almost four years older than the Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In improving his record to 5-2, the left-hander held the Indians to 8 hits in 7 innings.

Greg Swindell, 22 years younger than John, was the loser. His record dropped to 10-6.

Clark’s home run came after Don Mattingly singled to stretch his hitting streak to 17 games.

Boston 10, Baltimore 3--The Orioles’ Cal Ripken celebrated playing in his 1,000th consecutive game with a first-inning home run, but the Red Sox did most of the hitting at Boston.

Jim Rice singled home two runs to break a 3-3 tie, and Boston scored seven runs in the eighth.

Boston’s Mike Greenwell had two hits, extending his hitting streak to 16 games, and drove in three runs.

Ripken is the sixth player to play in 1,000 consecutive games. The record is 2,130, held by Lou Gehrig.

“I’m proud of the fact that I can go out there, day in and day out, but I don’t think that’s the real reason I do it,” Ripken said. “I like to play. I don’t like to sit and watch.”

Chicago 10, Texas 5--Dave Gallagher hit two home runs and Greg Walker and Ron Karkovice also homered as the White Sox pounded the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

Dave LaPoint (6-7) pitched 8 innings for the victory. He took a four-hit shutout into the ninth but was chased when Texas scored its five runs.

Kansas City 7, Seattle 3--Kurt Stillwell hit a pair of two-run doubles, the second during a five-run ninth inning, and the Royals downed the Mariners at Seattle.

Bret Saberhagen (10-6) pitched five-hit ball for eight innings, while Mark Langston (5-8) lost his fourth straight decision.