AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Blue Jays Give A’s Wakeup Call, Canseco Answers in Oakland’s 4-1 Win

The Toronto Blue Jays would have been wiser to let the world champions sleep.

Instead, Todd Stottlemyre awakened them Monday at Toronto with the second pitch of the game, a high inside pitch to Oakland’s Rickey Henderson.

Players from both benches and bullpens at the SkyDome, where a capacity crowd of 49,471 was watching, poured onto the field. No punches were thrown.

Jose Canseco delivered the punch, a three-run home run in the sixth inning, that gave the Athletics a 4-1 victory. The A’s, playing poorly, had dropped six of their previous eight games.

Canseco’s home run was all Bob Welch (5-2) needed. He gave up five hits and struck out eight in 7 2/3 innings. Rick Honeycutt got the last out in the eighth and Dennis Eckersley struck out two of the three batters in the ninth to pick up his 10th save.

The Blue Jays bring out the best in Canseco. His .331 average against them is his best against any team.

When he missed the first 89 games last season because of a broken wrist, his first game back was at Toronto. In his fourth at-bat he homered. In the fourth game of the championship series he hit a 480-foot blast into the upper deck to help win it.

The home run off Stottlemyre, Canseco’s 14th, came in his 37th game, giving him three fewer than he hit in 65 games last season. He also has 41 runs batted in. Last year he had 57.

“It was a good pitch,” Canseco told the Associated Press. “It was a curve down. I went down and got it and flipped it out.”

When Canseco came up in the eighth, Stottlemyre threw a pitch inside and high. The slugger just stared at the pitcher.

“I don’t mind if pitchers come inside on me,” Canseco said. “They could hit me in the thigh three times and it wouldn’t bother me. I just object when they throw at my head.”

Chicago 6, New York 5--The Yankees brought up speedy outfielder Deion Sanders, who doubles as a pro football star, and stuck him in the leadoff spot in this game at New York.

Sanders tripled and scored a run, but the Yankees lost when Carlton Fisk hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning to bring the White Sox from behind.

It was Fisk’s 317th homer as a catcher, 10 behind Johnny Bench.

Dan Pasqua and Robin Ventura also homered for the White Sox, who outhit the Yankees, 11-6. In the last two games the Yankees have been outhit, 28-8.

Boston 4, Texas 2--Wade Boggs capped a three-run seventh at Boston with a two-run single to give Mike Boddicker (6-3) his fifth victory in a row.

Although he gave up only one hit after Julio Franco hit a two-run homer in the first, it appeared Boddicker’s streak would end. But Dwight Evans led off the seventh with a double and the rally was on.

Detroit 11, Kansas City 6--The Tigers sizzle while the Royals fizzle. Lou Whitaker and Lloyd Moseby homered in an eight-run second inning at Detroit that carried the Tigers to their seventh victory in a row.

The Tigers are 18-22, the stumbling Royals are 13-23 and 11 1/2 games behind Oakland.

Minnesota 7, Baltimore 3--Kent Hrbek and Dan Gladden hit home runs at Baltimore and the hot Twins romped to their 14th victory in their 18 games in May.

Mark Guthrie (1-0) replaced David West with two out in the fifth and held the Orioles without a run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Seattle 9, Milwaukee 4--The Mariners, baffled for six innings at Milwaukee by Teddy Higuera, hammered Brewer relief ace Dan Plesac in the ninth.

The Mariners had run-scoring doubles from Darnell Coles, Harold Reynolds, Jeffrey Leonard and Ken Griffey in an eight-run rally.