Baseball Roundup : Blue Jays Tie Orioles for First

The 97-day stay alone in first place ended swiftly and quietly Thursday night, with no sign of protest.

On Manager Frank Robinson’s 54th birthday, the Baltimore Orioles matched their worst loss this year and dropped into a first-place tie with the Toronto Blue Jays. John Farrell pitched a five-hitter, and Joe Carter hit two home runs to lead the Cleveland Indians to an 11-0 victory before 9,735 at Cleveland Stadium.

“We just have company for a day, it’s no big deal,” said Robinson, who smiled and added, “We’ll see how they (the Blue Jays) like it, then evict them. You know how lonely it is at the top.”

It was a night when “Magic” Johnson turned back into Dave Johnson, and allowed six hits and three runs in three-plus innings. Jamie Quirk’s unbeaten record as an Orioles catcher fell to 4-1. The raging but rusty bullpen was pounded. The lineup that scares no one was stopped cold, extending the Orioles’ scoreless innings streak to 17.

It was their largest margin of defeat since June 30, when they lost to the Detroit Tigers, 16-5, and the most runs they have given up in a game since July 13, when they lost to the Angels, 13-5.

“At least we’ll sleep tonight,” said Robinson of being blown out.

In eight previous games with a lead of one game or less, the Orioles had won seven times and outscored the opposition, 45-19. But they couldn’t muster anything against Farrell. So, for the first time since May 26, when they were 22-21, the Orioles aren’t alone in first place.

“People have been saying things about us all year long,” said Robinson. “Whenever things have looked a little bleak, people say, ‘Uh oh, here they go.’ Tonight’s no exception. They’ll be saying, ‘This is it for them.’ We’ll see. I’m not concerned about that.”

Farrell (8-13) was pushed up a day so he could start against the first-place Orioles. He must like three days’ rest. He ripped through them, sending the Orioles to their 11th shutout this year. In the Orioles’ last six losses, they have scored a total of five runs. They have been outscored in those games, 45-5.

Johnson (4-3) just didn’t have it. He got through the first three innings without much trouble, but Carter homered to open the fourth, starting the romp. Carter, who entered the game with one RBI in his last nine games, hit another homer off Dave Schmidt in the fifth. It was the 20th multi-homer game of his career.

Toronto 5, Chicago 1--George Bell drove in three runs, two on a home run that extended his hitting streak to a club-record 22 games, as the Blue Jays moved into a tie with first-place Baltimore after a three-game sweep of the White Sox at Toronto.

Dave Stieb (14-8) allowed four hits in six innings, struck out two and walked two. Jim Acker followed with two hitless innings, and Tom Henke pitched the ninth to finish the combined six-hitter.

Steve Rosenberg (4-10) gave up five runs and nine hits in his second complete game of the season.

Toronto came back from a one-run deficit with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Mookie Wilson opened with an infield single and scored on Manny Lee’s triple. Lee scored on Bell’s ground-out to first base. Kelly Gruber doubled with two out, took third on Rosenberg’s wild pitch and scored on Tony Fernandez’ single.

Kansas City 3, Detroit 0--Bret Saberhagen pitched eight innings, allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked none at Kansas City, winning his eighth game in a row, as the Royals moved within 2 1/2 games of Oakland in the American League West.

Saberhagen (17-5) has won 14 of his last 15 decisions. Jeff Montgomery worked the ninth for his 15th save.

Kansas City scored an unearned run in the first after Kevin Seitzer doubled leading off. With one out, Bo Jackson hit a grounder under the glove of Detroit first baseman Dave Bergman, and Seitzer scored on the error. Seitzer led the offense with three of Kansas City’s six hits. Minnesota 8, Texas 6--Chip Hale’s first major league run batted in broke a 3-3 tie and helped the Twins win at Minneapolis.

Hale, called up last Saturday when Gary Gaetti was placed on the disabled list, hit a sacrifice fly to score Brian Harper with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth. He added an RBI single in the seventh.

Milwaukee 6, Seattle 1--Mark Knudson combined with two relievers on a five-hitter, and Billy Spiers drove in three runs at Milwaukee.

Knudson (5-4) walked one, struck out two and allowed four hits and an unearned run in 7 1/3 innings.