American League Roundup : Athletics Defeat Orioles With Help From Burns, Cadaret and Hubbard

When people talk about the outstanding season the Oakland Athletics are having, the names Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Dave Stewart, Bob Welch, Storm Davis, Dennis Eckersley and Carney Lansford are usually mentioned.

They form the nucleus of the club that is driving toward the American League West title.

But there have been others who have made big contributions. Three of those players were in the limelight Saturday at Oakland when the Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-1, and increased their lead to eight games over the second-place Minnesota Twins.

The Athletics have known for some time that Todd Burns and Greg Cadaret, who combined on a seven-hitter, are youngsters with considerable talent.

But the contributions of infielder Glenn Hubbard have been somewhat unexpected.

On Saturday, his squeeze-bunt single drove in the tiebreaking run in the second inning.

“I’ve been lucky,” said Hubbard, who has a team-high 18 runs batted in during August. “I seem to be up there when the game’s on the line. It also helps that I am playing every day.”

On July 30, Hubbard was batting .205 with no homers and 9 RBIs. In August, he’s batting over .250 with 3 home runs and 18 RBIs.

Hubbard, 30, has also played well in the field. He made a diving stop of a smash by Larry Sheets Friday night and turned it into a double play that helped Storm Davis improve his record to 13-4.

Burns (6-1) pitched a strong 5 innings Saturday, and roommate Cadaret finished up for his third save.

Burns, who is 4-0 at home with an earned-run average of 1.17. says it’s just more comfortable pitching at the Oakland Coliseum.

Cadaret came on with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth. He struck out Sheets and got Jim Traber to ground out.

The only Oriole run came on Cal Ripken’s homer, his 22nd, in the first inning.

Milwaukee 6, Detroit 5--Rob Deer hit his 18th home run with two out in the 12th inning at Milwaukee to turn what appeared to be an easy Tiger win into a Brewer victory.

Going into the eighth, Tiger ace Jack Morris had a 5-1 lead. He tired in the eighth, giving up two runs. In the bottom of the ninth, relievers Guillermo Hernandez and Mike Henneman gave up two more runs, and the game went into extra innings.

Deer was 0 for 5 when he sent Paul Gibson’s pitch over the fence at the 390 mark in left.

The Tigers remained two games ahead of the second-place Boston Red Sox in the AL East.

Seattle 8, Boston 6--Scott Bradley’s three-run, eighth-inning home run off Red Sox reliever Lee Smith climaxed the Mariners’ comeback at Seattle.

The Mariners wiped out a 6-1 deficit.

The home run by Bradley was only his second of the season.

Kansas City 4, Minnesota 1--Mark Gubicza struck out a career-high, club-record 14 batters and pitched a six-hitter at Kansas City, Mo.

Danny Tartabull’s two-run home run in the fourth was all Gubicza needed.

Twin Manager Tom Kelly, who has seen his club struggle since losing Gary Gaetti a couple of weeks ago, was impressed by Gubicza (16-7).

“I thought he was a little shaky early,” he said, “but the last three innings he was outstanding. We put two men on in the seventh and he struck out the side.”

Texas 5, Toronto 3--Ruben Sierra homered from each side of the plate at Arlington, Tex., and Charlie Hough gave up 5 hits in 8 innings to improve his record to 11-14.

It was the second time in his career that Sierra homered from each side in the same game. It sent Jimmy Key to his fourth defeat in 12 decisions.

Chicago 4, Cleveland 1--The start of the game at Chicago was delayed almost 3 1/2 hours because of rain, but former Dodger Jerry Reuss was glad they waited.

Reuss pitched a seven-hitter to improve his record to 10-8. It’s the first time the 39-year-old left-hander had reached double figures in wins since 1985 with the Dodgers.