AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : White Sox Reduced to the Role of Spoilers

Phil Bradley led off Saturday’s game at Toronto with a single to spoil Dave Stieb’s bid for back-to-back no-hitters, but the White Sox didn’t do much else and lost to the Blue Jays, 3-0.

Stieb (18-5), in becoming the Blue Jays’ first-ever 18-game winner, gave up only five other hits in eight innings.

The Blue Jays’ Kelly Gruber hit two home runs and scored the other run after a single. After Gruber’s second homer against Alex Fernandez (2-3) in the eighth, Tom Henke pitched the ninth to get his 28th save.

While the Blue Jays remained 5 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League East, the White Sox fell 8 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics in the West.

After 137 games, the White Sox are 79-58, the third-best record in the major leagues (Boston is 78-60). A year ago at the same stage, they were last in the West with a 58-79 record. “We know we have a tough task trying to catch the Athletics,” said Manager Jeff Torborg, in his second season as manager.

“But there is no quit in this team. It’s amazing how this team has battled.

“Unfortunately, in the last two games, we had good pitching from Melido Perez and from Fernandez, but our hitters didn’t come through.”

Stieb extended his scoreless streak to 18 innings.

“It was just another win,” Stieb said. “It means nothing, except it kept us from losing ground. Nineteen is on my mind now.”

Boston 10, Seattle 2--There is concern among the Red Sox that pitcher Roger Clemens will try to come back from his injury too soon.

Left-hander Tom Bolton (9-2) sent the 20-game winner with tendinitis in his shoulder a message with a seven-hitter at Boston.

It was a message for Clemens to take his time and don’t come back until he has fully recovered.

“Roger is our big guy, the one who prevents a big losing streak,” Bolton said.

“He’s the type who will rush back if we’re losing. As long as we’re winning like the last couple of days, he can take a few extra days off.”

The Red Sox had 14 hits, Mike Greenwell and Mike Marshall each getting three. They remained 5 1/2 games ahead of Toronto in the East.

Bolton, who had three poor outings in a row to finish August, is 2-0 in September. He has given up only three runs in 17 innings.

Winner Rich DeLucia made his major league debut, giving up four hits and a run in 5 2/3 innings.

Minnesota 6, Cleveland 1--Winner Scott Erickson (5-4) gave up seven hits at Minneapolis in pitching his first complete game.

Nelson Liriano tripled, singled, walked twice drove in a run and scored twice for the Twins, who have won six of their last seven.

Candy Maldonado’s 20th homer in the seventh spoiled Erickson’s shutout.

Oakland 5, New York 2--Rickey Henderson continued his drive for league most valuable player as the Athletics beat the Yankees for the 11th time in a row. If the A’s win today, they will be the first team ever to sweep a season series from the Yankees.

Henderson hit home runs in the eighth and ninth innings as the A’s overcame a 2-1 deficit to get a victory for Scott Sanderson (15-9). Henderson has 26 home runs and leads the league in hitting with a .326 average.

Sanderson, 3-0 against the Yankees, gave up three hits in seven innings. Dennis Eckersley, a candidate along with teammate Bob Welch for the AL Cy Young Award, got the last five outs. Eckersley has 42 saves in only 44 opportunities.

The A’s two newest additions, Harold Baines and Willie McGee, are beginning to make their presence felt. Baines went four for four and McGee had two hits and scored two runs.

Texas 2, Kansas City 1--Nolan Ryan suffered a split lip when hit by a bouncing drive off the bat of Bo Jackson in the second inning at Arlington, Tex. But Ryan gave up only three hits in seven innings. He walked the leadoff batter in the eighth and relief pitcher Kenny Rogers gave up the tying run.

Rafael Palmeiro doubled home the winning run with one out in the ninth.

Milwaukee 5, Detroit 2--B. J. Surhoff hit a three-run home run and Jim Gantner had three singles at Milwaukee to support Jaime Navarro (7-5), who was one out short of a complete game.