A WACKY NIGHT IN BASEBALL : Bo Has Game of Hit and Miss : Baseball: Jackson hits three home runs but injures shoulder and misses chance to try for four.

Although Deion Sanders has never decked Bo Jackson on a football field, he KO’d him on a baseball field Tuesday night. And it cost Jackson the chance to tie the major league record of four home runs in a game.

Jackson homered his first three times up in Kansas City’s 10-7 victory over the New York Yankees. But he partially dislocated his left shoulder diving for Sanders’ inside-the-park homer in the sixth inning and had to leave.

“That’s the best performance I’ve ever seen by an individual in a major league game,” Kansas City Royal Manager John Wathan said.

Jackson hit two-run homers in the first and third innings off Andy Hawkins (1-8) and hit a three-run shot off Hawkins in the fifth. The third home run gave Jackson 19 for the season and 100 for his career.

But he never got an opportunity to tie the record. Sanders’ hit rolled to the wall for a two-run homer that pulled New York to within 8-7. Jackson, clearly frustrated, had to come out.

“I certainly didn’t expect a night like I had, especially getting hurt,” Jackson said. “But the X-rays came back negative and I should be all right in a few days.

“I felt great up until the ball I tried to dive for. I didn’t go out and try to hit three home runs, but all three pitches were right in my zone.”

Jackson was taken to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center to have the shoulder X-rayed. Wathan said the Royals believe it was a partial dislocation in which the bone pops out of the joint and pops back in.

“I think he’ll be able to play in a few days,” Wathan said. “Usually what happens in this case is you’re out a couple of days.”

Wathan, like the fans, was disappointed Jackson didn’t have a chance to bat again.

“I think he would have electrified Yankee Stadium just coming up to the plate a fourth time,” the Kansas City manager said.

Sanders, who also plays defensive back for the Atlanta Falcons, has been a rival of Jackson, a running back for the Raiders. The two haven’t met in a football game since 1985, when Jackson’s Auburn team played Florida State.

“He ran all through us, over me and everybody,” Sanders said.

Jackson’s first two homers were monster shots. He followed George Brett’s first-inning walk with a 412-foot drive over the center-field wall.

After Bill Pecota led off the third with his first home run in a year, Hawkins walked Brett again and Jackson hit a 464-foot, opposite-field homer halfway up the right- field bleachers.

“That ball got so small so fast,” Brett said.

The third home run was more modest, a 328-foot, opposite-field fly down the line that gave Kansas City an 8-1 lead. Hawkins gave up a single to Kevin Seitzer and a double to Brett, but chose to pitch to Jackson rather than walk him with first base open.

Yankee Manager Stump Merrill made the decision to face Jackson and Hawkins concurred.

“There was no other thing to do,” Hawkins said. “They’ve got two left-handers coming up after that and they’re both good hitters (Gerald Perry and Jim Eisenreich). I wanted to go after him anyway. The guy’s just hit two home runs off me.”

It was the seventh three-homer game in the major leagues this season and it matched the Kansas City club record for homers in a game. The seven RBIs also tied the Royals’ record.

Hawkins, who has not won since May 6, has not pitched well since early July, when he lost a no-hitter to Chicago, 4-0, on unearned runs, and lost to Minnesota, 2-0, after pitching 11 shutout innings.

“He’s adjusted,” Hawkins said of Jackson. “The first at-bat when I got two strikes on him he choked up 1 1/2, two inches.”

Willie Wilson, who replaced Jackson, hit a two-run single in the seventh. He singled in the ninth, giving Kansas City five hits and nine RBIs from the cleanup spot.

3 HOME RUNS IN A GAME

Players who have hit three home runs in a game this season.

Date Player (Team) Against May 6 Cecil Fielder (Tigers) Blue Jays May 25 Kevin Mitchell (Giants) Pirates May 26 Jeff Treadway (Braves) Phillies June 1 Glenn Davis (Astros) Giants June 6 Cecil Fielder (Tigers) Indians June 9 Randy Milligan (Orioles) Yankees July 17 Bo Jackson (Royals) Yankees