American League Roundup : Blue Jays Open New Dome in 5-3 Defeat

The SkyDome wasn’t quite ready, and apparently its occupants, the Toronto Blue Jays, weren’t either.

While workmen were still putting the final touches on the structure Monday night, the Blue Jays were losing their debut in their new home, 5-3, to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Glenn Braggs hit a two-run home run, and Gary Sheffield drove in two runs as the Brewers ended the Blue Jays’ three-game winning streak by beating their ace, Jimmy Key (6-4), who went the distance, giving up nine hits.

“This will take a little while to get used to,” Key said. “It’s not like home quite yet.”

Workmen were setting up railings behind the plate and checking the outfield fences when the teams took batting practice. The fifth enclosed stadium in the majors is located in downtown Toronto.

It doesn’t have any ticket windows yet, and parking is scarce. But 48,378 fans showed up and most seemed to like everything about the opener except the outcome.

Boston 5, Detroit 2--A subdued Sparky Anderson returned as manager of the Tigers and watched more or less calmly as his team lost again in Detroit.

Mike Greenwell hit a 440-foot home run and drove in three runs to help Roger Clemens (6-4) win for the first time since May 12.

Anderson spent three weeks at his home in Thousand Oaks recovering from exhaustion. He said he was unable to do what he had always admonished his players to do--leave baseball, especially defeat--at the ballpark.

“I always taught that, but I became a mental and physical wreck because I couldn’t do it,” Anderson said.

“There has never been anyone--with the possible exception of Gene Mauch--who takes losses harder than I do.”

Lou Whitaker hit his 14th home run for the Tigers to remain tied for the league lead.

Baltimore 16, New York 3--The Orioles aren’t just winning, they’re embarrassing the opposition.

Steve Finley hit a grand slam to cap an eight-run third inning in New York, and the Orioles were helped by six Yankee errors as they scored their eighth straight win.

Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly, a Gold Glove winner the last four years, made two errors in a game for the first time in his career.

Mattingly, pitcher Andy Hawkins and second baseman Steve Sax erred on consecutive plays to start the third inning. All 10 runs off Hawkins were unearned.

One of the few earned runs was Mickey Tettleton’s 14th home run for the Orioles.

The Yankee defense made it easy for Jeff Ballard to improve his record to 9-1. He gave up nine hits and both runs in seven innings.

The struggling Yankees fell seven games behind the Orioles in the East.

Texas 4, Chicago 2--Julio Franco knocked in two more runs at Arlington, Tex., to increase his league-leading total to 49 and help the Rangers win.

Bobby Witt made it through seven innings to improve his record to 5-5. Jeff Russell retired the final four White Sox to get his 11th save.

Rookie Greg Hibbard (0-1) watched his outfielders turn two fly balls into triples that contributed to Texas runs.

Minnesota 2, Oakland 1--Al Newman singled home both runs for the Twins at Oakland, and Jeff Reardon held off the Athletics in the eighth and ninth innings.

The win went to rookie Francisco Oliveras, who had eight years in the minors before making his debut last week.

Kansas City 5, Seattle 3--Matt Winters singled in the 13th inning, scoring Danny Tartabull, and the Royals beat the Mariners in Seattle’s Kingdome.

Winters, who doubled in his first major league at bat last Tuesday, went 0 for 5 before his game-winning hit off reliever Steve Trout. Tartabull had singled off Tom Niedenfuer (0-2), who was replaced by Trout. Bill Buckner singled, setting the stage for the game-winning hit. Mike McFarlane singled in another run.