AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : A’s Complete Sweep of Yankees

It may be some consolation for the New York Yankees to know that the team that swept them this season isn’t an ordinary club.

Willie McGee tripled home two runs with two out in the ninth inning to break a tie and the Oakland Athletics beat the Yankees, 7-3, Sunday at New York to finish 12-0 against them for the season.

Dave Stewart (19-10) gave up nine hits but only two earned runs in eight innings to close in on his fourth consecutive 20-victory season.

The A’s, who outscored the Yankees, 62-12, in the 12 games, extended their lead to 9 1/2 games in the American League West with only 24 games remaining.

McGee, acquired to play center field when Dave Henderson was injured and lost for the season, drove in four runs. After a slow start with the A’s, McGee has five hits in his last two games.

Mark McGwire hit his 36th home run and also had a two-run single to climax the four-run ninth, giving him 99 RBIs.

The A’s became the fourth team to sweep a season series, all since the expansion to 14 teams and 11 and 12-game series. Baltimore did it in 1978 against Oakland and Kansas City.

“As a team, it’s been a tremendous accomplishment,” former Yankee co-captain Willie Randolph said. “Obviously, we had their number. We just did the right things at the right time. Each game is different. We just matched our pitching in each game.”

Rickey Henderson, the offensive catalyst for the A’s, is another former Yankee who enjoyed the sweep.

“The Yankees are a team you like to get up for because when you were a kid you heard about them,” Henderson said. “The Yankees may be last, but they are a good team. They have a bunch of youngsters who have to prove themselves.”

Toronto 6, Chicago 1--The one constant this season in Toronto has been the fans.

As the Blue Jays moved back into the race in the East, they drew 49,870 fans to the Skydome to break their own league attendance record. They have drawn 3,386,385 and have 10 more home games.

Fred McGriff and Greg Myers hit consecutive home runs in a four-run sixth inning that pulled the Blue Jays to within 4 1/2 games of Boston.

The slumping White Sox made four errors and lost their third in a row.

Jimmy Key (10-7) gave up six hits and an unearned run in seven innings to pitch the Blue Jays to their fourth win in a row.

“We dug ourselves into this hole,” McGriff said after hitting his 33rd home run. “I just hope there’s time to dig out.”

Seattle 3, Boston 1--The Red Sox found a temporary replacement for ailing Roger Clemens, but the Mariners’ Matt Young spoiled the plan.

Joe Hesketh, making his first start in four years, gave up three runs, two of them earned, and struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings.

But Young (8-14), working out of two bases-loaded jams, pitched seven strong innings and the Mariners handed the Red Sox just their fourth loss in the last 16 games.

Young had four strikeouts in the first inning, but one of them, Wade Boggs, reached first on a passed ball. Boggs has only two hits in 24 at-bats against Young.

Hesketh was released by Montreal and Atlanta this season before signing with the Red Sox as a reliever.

“It was exciting,” Hesketh said. “I didn’t feel strange, in fact I felt great. I’m just sorry we didn’t win.”

Texas 6, Kansas City 5--Steve Farr walked Pete Incaviglia with two out and the bases loaded in the ninth inning at Arlington, Tex.

It was the second time in as many games that the Rangers beat the Royals in the bottom of the ninth, and both times Julio Franco scored the winning run.

About all that is left of the Royals’ season is to find out if George Brett will win another batting title. Brett had two hits in four at-bats and drove in four runs. He was seven for 15 in the series to raise his average to .323. Rickey Henderson leads at .324.

Detroit 5, Milwaukee 0--Scott Aldred, who was 6-15 with an earned-run average of 4.90 for triple-A Toledo, found the American League easier in his debut.

Aldred, despite walking five in five innings, yielded just four hits to win his first start.

Rookie Travis Fryman hit his seventh home run and went six for 12 in the series.

Cleveland 12, Minnesota 9--The Indians took out some of the anger of their second-half collapse with a seven-run seventh at Minneapolis.

Going into the seventh, the Indians were trailing Mark Guthrie, 5-1. Candy Maldonado’s two-out, two-run double put the Indians ahead to stay.