American League Roundup : Stewart Maintains Mastery of Mariners as A’s Win, 5-3

The Seattle Mariners have been a key to Dave Stewart’s success with the Oakland Athletics.

Stewart, with ninth-inning help from Dennis Eckersley, scored a 5-3 victory over the Mariners Friday at Seattle to become the first 16-game winner in the majors.

Stewart extended his record against the Mariners since joining the A’s to 11-0. The hard-throwing former Dodger right-hander is on his way to his third consecutive 20-victory season.

“I don’t know why I’ve had such success against the Mariners,” Stewart said. “Today, we had a four-run inning, and I just pitched well enough to win. We always seem to play well against these guys.”

Eckersley, who missed nearly two months because of a tender right shoulder, made his 10th appearance since coming off the disabled list. The A’s have won all 10 of those games. He retired three batters in a row in this one and has been perfect in eight of his outings. He gave up a hit in another game and a hit and a run in the other.

Stewart gave up an inside-the-park home run to Mike Kingery in the eighth and departed after Jeffrey Leonard homered to open the ninth.

Texas 6, Baltimore 4--The return home did not work wonders for the Orioles. Julio Franco hit a three-run home run, and Charlie Hough, in his first start since coming off the disabled list, won for the first time since June 18.

President Bush was on hand as the Orioles lost for the 14th time in the last 16 games and saw their lead over Cleveland in the American League East cut to 1 1/2 games.

Cleveland 4, Boston 3--Joey Belle and Brook Jacoby hit consecutive home runs in the second inning at Boston.

Mike Boddicker, who was 5-0 in his previous six starts, walked Cory Snyder to open the second. The home runs were the first he had given up in 50 innings.

Minnesota 5, Kansas 1--Gene Larkin hit a three-run home run at Minneapolis, and Allan Anderson (12-9) gave up eight hits. The switch-hitting Larkin was batting only .187 from the left side before hitting the homer in the fourth.

Chicago 5, Detroit 4--Doubles by Carlton Fisk and Ozzie Guillen keyed a two-run rally in the ninth inning that gave the White Sox their 12th win in a row at home.