AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Canseco Raising the Price of His Signature

Every day the Oakland Athletics waste trying to sign Jose Canseco may be costing them money.

Canseco hit two more home runs and Dave Stewart won his eighth game as the A’s defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 13-1, Thursday at Oakland.

Afterward, Canseco said he would like to sign a new contract within 10 days.

“I’ll stay here as long as they want me,” Canseco said. “(Signing now) is good business sense because I want to play for the A’s. I want to show good faith. I wouldn’t mind signing a 10-year deal.

“I’d like to stay with Oakland the rest of my career. I’d like to set and break records here for the fans. But if A’s make it extremely difficult, then I can’t stay here. The longer (negotiating) goes on the more difficult this is going to be.”

The 25-year-old slugger has a one-year, $2-million contract and is eligible to become a free agent after the 1991 season.

His agent, Dennis Gilbert of Beverly Hills, and Oakland General Manager Sandy Alderson have already begun discussions on a long-term deal.

“We’ve approached them (with a proposal) and they’ve made a counter-offer,” Canseco said. “We’re working it out right now.”

Gilbert declined to comment other than to say, “We expect when Jose signs he will be the best-paid player in baseball.”

Canseco said the Athletics could have signed him 3 1/2 months ago “for peanuts.” He said he was asking for less than the four-year, $15-million deal Will Clark signed with the San Francisco Giants.

Against the Brewers, Canseco had four hits, including his 16th and 17th homers to tie Cecil Fielder of the Detroit Tigers for the major league lead. Canseco drove in three runs to give him 43, tops in the majors, and scored four runs to lead the majors with 36.

Canseco, who is batting .331, has nine home runs and 22 RBIs in his last 12 games.

“He’s hot, but does that make (a contract agreement) any more urgent?” Alderson said. “I don’t think so. We’ve said for a number of weeks now that we’d like Jose to be an Oakland Athletic for a long time.”

Felix Jose also had three RBIs and Dave Henderson had four hits and drove in two runs.

Stewart (8-1) allowed an unearned run and five hits in seven innings, struck out six and did not walk a batter.

Canseco got the A’s off to a 2-0 lead in the first against Tom Filer (2-3) with his 16th homer after a single by Rickey Henderson. The A’s got two more runs in the first on Jose’s RBI grounder and Steinbach’s run-scoring single.

Dave Henderson singled home two runs in the second, and Oakland broke the game open with four in the fourth.

Boston 4, Kansas City 1--Roger Clemens pitched a five-hitter at Boston for his 10th victory in 11 decisions against the Royals.

Clemens (7-2) struck out seven, including Danny Tartabull and Willie Wilson three times each.

The Red Sox got nine hits and six walks off Mark Gubicza (2-5). Luis Rivera drove in two runs.

Texas 3, Detroit 2--Rafael Palmeiro hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning, lifting the Rangers to a victory at Detroit.

Charlie Hough (5-2) beat Frank Tanana (3-3), who pitched a complete-game, four-hitter. Hough gave up three hits in six innings. Jeff Russell got the last two outs for his eighth save.

Mike Stanley hit a two-run homer for Texas in the third inning. Cecil Fielder singled home one run for Detroit and scored the other.

Minnesota 5, New York 4--Pinch-hitter Gary Gaetti’s high chopper back to the mound with the bases loaded scored Shane Mack with one out in the ninth inning to give the Twins a victory at Minneapolis.

The Yankees tied the score, 4-4, with two runs in the top of the ninth against Rick Aguilera (1-1), one on Roberto Kelly’s homer.

Mike Witt started for the Yankees, allowing a three-run homer to Fred Manrique in the second.

Chicago 5, Baltimore 3--Ron Kittle hit a three-run homer and Dan Pasqua singled home two runs at Baltimore as the White Sox beat the Orioles for the seventh consecutive time dating to last season.

Kittle’s eighth homer capped a five-run fourth inning in which the White Sox had five hits in a row off Jay Tibbs (2-5).

Scott Radinsky (4-0) didn’t allow a hit in 2 1/3 innings of relief and struck out four. Bobby Thigpen got his 13th save.

Cleveland 5, Seattle 3--Candy Maldonado’s homer broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning as the Indians won at Seattle.

After Maldonado’s homer off Matt Young (1-5), Cory Snyder doubled and scored on a wild pitch.

Jesse Orosco (3-2) got the victory in relief, and Doug Jones went 1 2/3 innings for his major league-leading 15th save in 16 chances.