AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Davis on Hard Times as Reliever for Royals

The Kansas City Royals are not getting much in the way of dividends for all the money they invested in relief pitcher Mark Davis.

Davis was the best relief pitcher in the majors last year for the San Diego Padres. The Royals, trying to close the gap with the Oakland Athletics, signed Davis as a free agent to a four-year contract.

The 29-year-old left-hander failed to hold a lead again Friday night at Chicago, and the White Sox scored five times in the eighth inning to beat Davis (0-2) and the Royals, 6-4.

Davis saved 44 games in 48 chances for the Padres last season and won the Cy Young award. This was his fourth blown save opportunity in nine chances this season.

He gave up a two-run pinch-hit home run to Ron Kittle to tie the score. Then, an error by second baseman Terry Shumpert and a double by Ivan Calderon sent in the tiebreaking run. Davis departed and Carlos Martinez doubled in the extra run.

Davis, who had an earned-run average of 1.85 last season, is at 7.24.

“We need him to do well, but I don’t know what we can do about it,” Manager John Wathan of the Royals said. “It’s frustrating while we try to get him straightened out. He was on such a roll last year that you expect the same of him every time out.”

Although he hit his fifth home run to start Davis’ downfall, Kittle wasn’t gloating.

“He’s a tough pitcher,” he said. “He’s going through a rough time, but he can pitch.”

Until the outburst in the eighth, Bret Saberhagen, who departed in the seventh with a 4-1 lead, appeared headed for his first victory since April 14. He gave up six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

One of the hits was a bunt single by Robin Ventura to end a hitless string of 41 at-bats. Ventura then homered to begin the rally in the eighth.

Bo Jackson drove in two Royal runs with his third home run and a single. Teammate Kevin Seitzer was two for four and stretched his hitting streak to 13 games.

The Royals had won four out of their previous five. They are in last place in the West with a 10-18 record.

Oakland 5, Baltimore 0--Bob Welch pitched a five-hitter, Mark McGwire hit two home runs and the Athletics won their fifth in a row, at Oakland.

Welch has two shutouts in his last three starts and has a 4-2 record and a 1.41 ERA, best in the league. He struck out eight.

McGwire has hit four of his nine home runs this season against the Orioles.

Bob Milacki (1-1) saw his six-game winning streak end. He had not lost since Sept. 1.

Toronto 4, Detroit 2--The Blue Jays found a way to stop former teammate Cecil Fielder from beating them with home runs in this game at Detroit.

After Manny Lee hit a two-run home run and Junior Felix hit one with the bases empty to give the Blue Jays a 4-1 lead, Fielder came up with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.

Tom Henke, trying to save the game for Jimmy Key (4-1), made sure Fielder didn’t put the Tigers in front. Henke hit Fielder, who leads the majors with 13 home runs and 32 runs batted in, with a pitch to force in a run, then retired the next batter to escape the inning.

“The way he’s swinging the bat, hitting him saved the game,” Blue Jay Manager Cito Gaston said.

Milwaukee 6, Minnesota 3--Paul Molitor always could hit. The Brewers’ second baseman, rounding into form after being injured early in the season, had four hits at Minneapolis, including a game-opening home run.

Molitor’s lead-off home run ended a string of four games in which the Brewers’ opponents scored first. In their first 21 games, the Brewers scored first.

New York 8, Seattle 5--Roberto Kelly’s third hit of the game, a run-scoring double in the seventh inning, broke a 5-5 tie at Seattle and helped the Yankees come back from a 5-0 deficit, ending a three-game losing streak.

Lee Guetterman (2-1) pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Dave Righetti pitched the ninth for his seventh save.

Cleveland 4, Texas 4 (suspended)--The Indians scored twice in the sixth inning to tie and spoil Nolan Ryan’s bid for his 294th victory.

Then, because of heavy rain in the bottom of the sixth at Arlington, Tex., the game was suspended. It will be completed before tonight’s game.

If the rain had begun 20 minutes earlier, Ryan would have won.