American League Roundup : Stewart Beats Orioles for His 14th Victory, 5-2

Dave Stewart became the American League’s first 14-game winner as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 5-2, Thursday night at Oakland.

The victory for Stewart (14-5), who tied Houston’s Mike Scott for the most victories in the major leagues, ended a streak of five straight losing decisions against the Orioles dating to Aug. 29, 1986.

Stewart, 9-1 at home this season, gave up two runs on seven hits in seven-plus innings. Dennis Eckersley pitched the ninth for his 15th save.

Dave Schmidt (8-9) lost for the first time in six career decisions against Oakland. In his past six starts, Schmidt is 1-4 with a 6.17 earned-run average, giving up 51 hits with only three strikeouts in 35 innings.

Seattle 5, Toronto 2--Scott Bankhead won his eighth consecutive decision, a league high this season and a Mariner club record, and Greg Briley hit his fourth home run in as many games as the Mariners beat the Blue Jays at Seattle.

The Mariners evened their record at 47-47, the second latest date in their 13-year history they have been at .500. Seattle, which has never had a winning season, was 59-59 in 1982.

Bankhead (10-4) has won seven straight starts and eight of his last 10 outings, with two no-decisions and has a 1.34 ERA during that span. He gave up two runs on six hits in 7 2/3 innings; Dennis Powell pitched the ninth for his second save.

Briley connected for his eighth homer, a three-run shot, in the third inning against Dave Stieb (9-6). Stieb gave up five runs on five hits in four innings.

Cleveland 4, Kansas City 0--Greg Swindell pitched two-hit ball for seven innings and the Indians, even without Joe Carter hitting a home run, beat the Royals at Kansas City.

Swindell (13-2) got his ninth victory in 10 decisions. Bret Saberhagen (9-5) saw his six-game winning streak stopped.

Carter, who had hit five homers in his last six at-bats, singled once in four tries. He failed to tie the major league record of six home runs in three consecutive games.

Carter did, however, single leading off the seventh, starting a three-run inning that broke a scoreless tie. Pete O’Brien followed with a single and Joey Belle hit an RBI double. Brad Komminsk, who had three hits, singled home a run and Luis Aguayo’s sacrifice fly made the score 3-0. Jerry Browne and Felix Fermin hit consecutive doubles in the eighth for the other run.

Texas 6, New York 2--Nolan Ryan got his 284th career victory, striking out 11 and walking none in 7 1/3 innings as the Rangers beat the Yankees at Arlington, Tex.

Ryan (11-6) leads the major leagues with 166 strikeouts. He struck out at least 10 batters for the ninth time this season and the 190th time in his career. He gave up two runs on five hits before Kenny Rogers finished for his first save.

Andy Hawkins (11-9) had pitched shutouts in his two previous starts and had won six of his last seven starts. He gave up four runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Hawkins extended his scoreless-inning streak to 23 before Pete Incaviglia hit a solo home run in the fifth for the game’s first run. It was Incaviglia’s 10th homer this season and fourth in his last eight games.

The Yankees tied the score in the sixth when Alvaro Espinoza led off with a double, advanced on Roberto Kelly’s sacrifice and scored on Steve Sax’s sacrifice fly.

Cecil Espy opened the Texas sixth with a triple and Ruben Sierra singled him home. The Rangers made the score 4-1 in the seventh when Rick Leach doubled for his third hit and scored on Steve Buechele’s single. Buechele later came home on Espy’s squeeze bunt.