AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Stewart Defeats Yankees for His 16th Victory

When Dave Stewart went into a slump at the end of May that lasted for exactly a month, it didn’t seem possible the Oakland right-hander would have his fourth consecutive 20-victory season.

He lost five of his six starts, and on June 28 had a 9-6 record.

With August one-third complete, Stewart (16-8) is on the road to that 20th victory.

In one of his best performances, Stewart held the New York Yankees to three hits in 8 2/3 innings Friday night at Oakland as the A’s won, 3-0. Rick Honeycutt got the final out after Stewart, who retired 22 batters in a row, faltered. He struck out Mel Hall for his fifth save.

It was Stewart’s fifth victory in a row. He figures to get eight or nine more starts.

Stewart extended to 31 innings his string without giving up an earned run.

Kansas City 6-9, Milwaukee 5-4--George Brett went seven for 10 at Kansas City to lead the doubleheader sweep and move the Royals into fifth place in the American League West.

In the opener Brett was four for five, and his double with two on in the eighth inning drove in the tying and winning runs.

In the second game Brett had three more hits, driving in a run and scoring another. His seven hits tied his club record for a doubleheader. Brett, who had three hits Thursday night, is 10 for 14 with eight RBIs in the last three games.

“It is somewhat similar to 1980,” Brett said between games, referring to the season in which he hit .390. “When I come up to the plate I have the feeling I can hit any pitch that the pitcher throws.”

Since the All-Star game, he’s been doing just that. In 29 games, he is 51 for 121 (.421). Eighteen of those hits have been doubles. In his last 38 games, he has driven in 39 runs.

Minnesota 7, Toronto 3--The Blue Jays keep blowing chances to close the gap on the Red Sox.

They built a 3-1 lead at Toronto before the Twins, last in the West, scored six runs in the seventh inning.

Shane Mack, whose baserunning blunder in the second ruined a potential big inning, hit a two-run homer to tie it. After Kirby Puckett singled in the tiebreaking run, Gary Gaetti clinched it with a three-run home run.

The Blue Jays, who trail Boston by two games, are 4-7 in their last 11 games.

Chicago 5-5, Texas 2-1--Nolan Ryan said he didn’t want to end his career with 300 victories, but the next one is proving tough to get.

Ryan gave up back-to-back home runs to rookie Craig Grebeck of Cal State Dominguez Hills and Ozzie Guillen in the second inning of the nightcap at Chicago and lost his second in a row to drop to 11-6.

In 423 at-bats between them this season, Grebeck and Guillen had not hit a home run.

Ryan went five innings, giving up five runs and six hits. He struck out two.

Wayne Edwards, making his first major league start after 39 relief appearances, won the nightcap.

The sweep enabled the White Sox to move to within 3 1/2 games of the Athletics.

In the opener, Jack McDowell (8-6) gave up just one run in seven innings and Dan Pasqua drove in three runs with a home run and a single.

Cleveland 5, Detroit 2--After losing three games, Mike Walker won at Cleveland when Mitch Webster hit a grand slam.

Walker gave up seven hits in 8 1/3 innings for his first major league victory.

Rookie Steve Searcy (1-4) lasted only 3 2/3 innings for the Tigers.

Seattle 4, Boston 1--Ken Griffey Jr. had four hits and Randy Johnson pitched a four-hitter over eight-plus innings to break his four-game losing streak in beating the Red Sox in Seattle.

The Mariners ended a three-game skid when Griffey tripled and singled three times off Dana Kiecker (4-5), raising his batting average five points to .323.