American League Roundup : Wilson Does It All as Royals Beat Orioles, 5-0

As bad as things are going for the Baltimore Orioles, they can take heart that they are the only team in the East with a winning record.

But that’s the extent of their joy. Leadoff hitter Willie Wilson drove in all the runs, and Luis Aquino pitched a three-hitter Saturday night at Kansas City as the Royals handed the Orioles their ninth loss in the last 10 games, 5-0.

The Royals can only wish they were in the Eastern Division. Their record of 56-47 would put them a game ahead of Baltimore (54-47). Cleveland is the Orioles’ closest pursuer at 51-51.

Wilson, 34, was in danger of losing his center-field job a few weeks ago.

But in his last six games, the leadoff hitter is batting .461 with 11 runs batted in.

“I’m not an RBI man,” Wilson said. “But if people keep getting on base ahead of me and I keep getting good pitches to hit, I’ll try to keep this going. It just feels good to contribute again.”

Aquino (6-4) began the season as the Royals’ middle relief pitcher.

“This is the best game I’ve ever pitched,” he said. “My fastball was working very good. It was probably the best I ever had.”

The 24-year-old Puerto Rican is 3-1 as a starter.

Oriole Manager Frank Robinson said: “I’ve got to figure out a way to get our offense going. We just don’t have an attack.”

Seattle 14, Oakland 6--The Mariners scored eight runs in the first inning at Oakland and spent the rest of the day watching the A’s Rickey Henderson run.

Henderson walked four times, stole five bases and scored four runs. He leads the majors in walks (81), stolen bases (47) and runs (78). In a game with 20 walks, all six Athletic runs were scored by runners who got on base via a hit.

Randy Johnson, 6 feet 10 inches, worked six innings to improve to 5-2, despite yielding seven walks.

Storm Davis (9-5) gave up seven of the Seattle runs in the first, getting only one out. Alvin Davis drove in five runs for Seattle.

Milwaukee 8, Texas 2--The Brewers, riding the hitting streak of Robin Yount, have emerged as a challenger in the East.

Yount had a triple and two doubles at Arlington, Tex., extending his hitting streak to 19 games as the Brewers won their fourth in a row.

Chris Bosio worked six innings to gain his career-high 12th victory.

Designated hitter Harold Baines made his debut for the Rangers and was hitless in four at-bats.

Boston 5, Cleveland 0--Apparently, Mike Smithson is not a good judge of himself. The Red Sox’s 6-foot-8 right-hander told pitching coach Bill Fischer before the game that he would be lucky to last a couple of innings at Cleveland.

Smithson held the hot-hitting Indians to two singles in eight innings to improve to 5-9.

“I guess miracles do happen,” Smithson said.

Boston’s Mike Greenwell extended his hitting streak to 14 games before suffering an ankle injury and leaving the game in the fifth.

New York 7, Toronto 2--It figured that the Yankees would need to get Don Mattingly out of his slump to put the team on the winning road again.

Mattingly had three hits and drove in three runs in New York to help Chuck Cary get his first major league victory since 1987. It was the Yankees’ second victory in the last 11 games.

Mattingly, 7 for 43 going in, had two doubles and a single as the Yankees handed Jimmy Key (7-12) his sixth loss in a row.

Cary gave up 11 hits but went the distance, striking out seven.

Detroit 3, Minnesota 2--The Tigers won at Detroit on Gary Pettis’ run-scoring single in the 10th inning, his fourth hit of the game, but the highlight was the pitching of Jack Morris.

Morris, in his most impressive performance in more than a year, gave up seven hits and struck out eight in nine innings.

“That’s as good as anyone can throw,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said.