American League Roundup : Candelaria Is the Stopper Yankees Were Looking for, as He Defeats Blue Jays, 5-3

John Candelaria, not even in the New York Yankees’ plans when spring training began, is turning out to the the team’s stopper.

In his second start, the 35-year-old lefthander held the Toronto Blue Jays to four hits in eight innings Wednesday night at New York, and the Yankees scored a 5-3 victory.

Rickey Henderson’s two-run single broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning as the Yankees ended their seven-game losing streak.

After Tommy John pitched the Yankees to an opening-day win in Minnesota, the Yankees, obviously missing injured Dave Winfield and departed Jack Clark, could neither hit nor pitch. In the seven losses, they were outscored, 59-19.

But Candelaria came through with a gem. He gave up only four hits in eight innings to get the victory. He made just one bad pitch, and Kelly Gruber hit it for a three-run home run in the third inning. From then on, Candelaria was the boss.

“I tell you, it’s a long time coming, but it’s pretty sweet,” said Manager Dallas Green of the Yankees, who was given a vote of confidence by owner George Steinbrenner before the game. “Wins always are.”

Don Slaught led the Yankee attack with three singles.

Cleveland 10, Boston 6--Cory Snyder felt that he was “struggling a little bit,” so he took extra batting practice before the Indians played in Boston.

The batting practice continued into the game. Snyder hit a pair of two-run home runs and two singles to drive in six runs. Snyder tagged Oil Can Boyd for the homers before cutting down to singles. He scored two other runs besides the ones on the home runs, so he was involved in all but two Cleveland runs.

Boyd (1-1), who also gave up a home run to Dave Clark before being relieved with none out in the fourth, yielded four hits and five runs.

“It was just one of those days,” Snyder said. “I just kept swinging the bat. Days like this are hard to come by, but they’re nice.”

Seattle 9, Chicago 1--Rookie Erik Hansom pitched eight shutout innings, and another rookie, Greg Briley, drove in four runs to spark the Mariners at Seattle.

Briley had three hits, including two doubles.

The White Sox scored in the ninth inning off Mike Jackson on a double by Billy Jo Robidoux and a single by Daryl Boston.

Baltimore 5, Kansas City 4--Mike Devereaux’s sacrifice fly in the 15th inning at Kansas City helped the Orioles end a 15-game losing streak against the Royals.

The Orioles last defeated Kansas City on July 26, 1987. The Royals’ winning streak was eight shy of the major league record for consecutive victories against a team, set by Baltimore against Kansas City in 1969-70.

Baltimore blew a 4-1 lead in the ninth before coming back to win.