American League Roundup : A’s Get Moore Than Expected, Beat Twins

Although he lost 34 games for the Seattle Mariners in the previous two seasons, when Mike Moore decided to become a free agent last fall, he was much in demand.

The Dodgers, the Angels, the New York Yankees and the New York Mets were among the bidders for the services of the 29-year-old right-hander.

Oakland outbid them all. The Athletics don’t regret it for a minute.

Moore held the Minnesota Twins to four hits in eight innings Sunday at Oakland in a 5-0 victory and tied teammate Dave Stewart for the most victories in the American League.

Moore, a 17-game winner in 1985, is 16-6, having won eight of his last nine decisions. When he won 17, it was the only one of his five seasons in Seattle in which he had a winning record.

The A’s, still trailing the Angels by two percentage points in the West, gave Moore all the support he needed with three runs in the first inning. In the eighth Jose Canseco hit a two-run home run, his eighth.

Storm Davis won his 14th Saturday, so the A’s have a chance for three 20-game winners. And probably a Cy Young winner. Manager Tony La Russa wants to talk about the pennant race, not awards.

“Any talk of who will win the Cy Young would be counterproductive,” La Russa said. “I know all they are thinking about is generating wins for the team.”

Stewart, though, was willing to talk. “Nobody in this league is pitching like Mike Moore right now. Nobody,” he said. “He’s the Cy Young man, hands down.”

Kirby Puckett of the Twins, who was hitless in four at-bats and fell five points behind Wade Boggs of Boston in the batting race, said Moore’s success didn’t surprise him.

“People said Oakland made a mistake paying him so much money ($3.95 million for three years) because he wasn’t established,” Puckett said. “All of a sudden, here he is.”

Kansas City 5, Seattle 4--Bo Jackson is blazing, the Royals have found out how to win on the road and they are right in the thick of the race in the West.

Jackson hit his 26th home run and a two-run triple as the Royals, 4 1/2 games out of first place, won their sixth in a row, all on the road.

In the four-game sweep at Seattle, Jackson homered in three of the games and drove in 10 runs.

Although Charlie Leibrandt had another poor outing, the Royals received a big lift from Steve Crawford, who held the Mariners to one hit in five innings.

Leibrandt, a disappointment all season, gave up three runs in the first inning and the Royals had to battle from behind to win for the 11th time in the last 14 games.

Baltimore 7, Toronto 2--The Orioles, although they have been in a slump for a month, have not let go of first place in the East.

With Pete Harnisch turning in a solid performance and Mike Devereaux hitting a two-run home run at Baltimore, the Orioles retained their a half-game lead over Milwaukee. The Orioles have been on top since May 26.

The Orioles jumped on Dave Stieb (12-8), who has not had a victory in 13 starts at Baltimore. After giving up five hits and four runs in six innings, he is 0-5 at Baltimore.

Milwaukee 6, Boston 3--The more chances Charlie O’Brien gets to catch, the better it is for the Brewers.

O’Brien, playing on a semi-regular basis lately, hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning at Milwaukee to bring the Brewers from behind and propel them to their 10th victory in the last 11 games.

He made the most of a second chance after banging into a double play to spoil a rally in the fourth. In his last seven games, O’Brien is hitting .411 with runners on base.

“I was disappointed when I hit into the double play,” he said. “Fortunately, I got another opportunity.”

Texas 7, Chicago 1--In a surprise pregame ceremony at Chicago, the White Sox retired the No. 3 uniform worn by Harold Baines. Baines, the all-time White Sox home run leader with 186, was recently traded to the Rangers.

Baines had to skip the game because of a hamstring injury, but teammates Charlie Hough, Ruben Sierra and Steve Buechele did the celebrating for him.

Hough, who lost a one-hitter at Seattle Tuesday, pitched a five-hitter to improve to 8-12. Sierra hit a two-run home run and Buechele culminated a big weekend with a double and a home run. In the three-game sweep, Buechele was six for 12 with two home runs, three doubles and seven RBIs.

Detroit 7, New York 6--The Tigers are improving, the Yankees, even with a new manager, are not.

Fred Lynn hit a home run in the seventh to break a 6-6 tie at Detroit and give the Tigers their third win in a row and sixth in eight games.

The Yankees, despite Jesse Barfield’s 21st home run, are 0-3 since Bucky Dent replaced Dallas Green as manager. They are mired in sixth, 8 1/2 games behind Baltimore.

Lynn’s seventh homer made a loser out of Eric Plunk after the Yankees scored three times in the seventh to tie.