American League Roundup : Roof Doesn’t Cave In on Blue Jays in 4-2 Win

Major league history was made in Toronto Wednesday night when a game that started outdoors wound up indoors in the same stadium.

Officials of the SkyDome learned that the stadium’s retractable roof works, sort of, after rain began falling in the fifth inning of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

It was the Blue Jays’ first win in three games at the SkyDome.

The closing of the roof began at 8:48 p.m., EDT, and was completely in place at 9:22--too late to prevent a brief delay in the game. When the roof is working perfectly, the procedure is supposed to take 20 minutes. Stadium officials are still working out some kinks.

As three of the four panels moved to cover the stadium, the plate area was left exposed. Umpire Rich Garcia, his shirt soaked, stopped play for six minutes and ordered a tarpaulin placed over the dirt.

As the roof closed, the fans gave a standing ovation.

John Cerutti (3-3) blanked the Brewers on seven hits until the ninth, when Glenn Braggs singled with one out and Rob Deer followed with his 13th home run. Cerutti allowed 11 hits but finished the game.

Ernie Whitt had three hits and drove in three runs for Toronto.

Kansas City 9, Seattle 6--Kevin Seitzer drove in three runs, and Brad Wellman scored three times as the Royals outslugged the Mariners at Seattle.

Mark Gubicza (6-4) lasted eight innings despite allowing the Mariners six runs and 12 hits, striking out five and walking two. Jeff Montgomery pitched the ninth for his first save.

The Royals, who had 18 hits, built a 7-0 lead after six innings and led, 9-3, before Jay Buhner hit a three-run home run for Seattle in the eighth. It was the first homer off Gubicza in 134 innings, since Steve Balboni hit one in Seattle last Sept. 21.

Kansas City scored four runs in the fourth with six consecutive hits off Seattle’s Bill Swift (2-2) and Gene Harris, making his AL debut after coming to the Mariners from Montreal in the trade for Mark Langston.

Oakland 3, Minnesota 2--Rookie Larry Arndt started a three-run fifth inning with his first major league hit, and the Athletics held off the Twins at Oakland.

Tony Phillips and Dave Henderson hit run-scoring singles for a 2-0 lead in the fifth, and Phillips scored on a wild pitch by Frank Viola (4-8).

Bob Welch (8-4) allowed five hits and two walks before turning over a bases-loaded, one-out jam to Gene Nelson in the seventh. Nelson gave up Al Newman’s sacrifice fly, and Rick Honeycutt allowed a run on Brian Harper’s single in the ninth, but Todd Burns struck out Greg Gagne with two runners on to get his third save.

Boston 6, Detroit 1--John Dopson and Rob Murphy combined on a four-hitter at Detroit as the Red Sox handed the Tigers their sixth defeat in seven games.

Dopson (6-4) allowed one run and four hits in seven-plus innings, and Murphy pitched hitless relief.

Keith Moreland’s home run off Doyle Alexander (4-6) in the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie, and Carlos Quintana added a two-run single for the Red Sox in the fifth.

Chicago 6, Texas 4--Ozzie Guillen’s third single of the game drove in the go-ahead run as the White Sox rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to beat the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

Ken Patterson (3-0) got one out in the seventh to pick up the victory, and Bobby Thigpen pitched two innings for his 10th save as Chicago won for only the fourth time in 12 games.

Ron Kittle, who homered in the sixth, started the eighth with a single off Cecilio Guante (3-3), and Ivan Calderon doubled. Carlton Fisk’s sacrifice fly scored pinch-runner Daryl Boston to make it 4-4, and after an intentional walk to Carlos Martinez, Guillen singled off reliever Kenny Rogers.