AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Fielder’s Bid for No. 50 Reaches Center Stage

Cecil Fielder’s bid for his 50th home run came up short Saturday at Detroit and the Tigers lost to the Minnesota Twins and rookie Scott Erickson, 2-0.

Erickson (8-4) gave up two hits in 7 1/3 innings, but in almost any other park in the American League he would have been a loser.

Not since 1961, when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees did it, has an American Leaguer hit 50 home runs. Fielder hit his 49th Thursday and has four games left, three in Yankee Stadium.

Fielder came up with the bases loaded and two out in the third inning and hit a towering drive to center. But Shane Mack flagged it down barely short of the 440-foot mark.

“I knew he hit it good,” Erickson said, “but I also know center field is a graveyard here. I just threw him fastballs down the middle and watched to see if he could hit it out.”

In his other three appearances Fielder also hit fly balls, one other time ending an inning with the bases loaded.

“If I hit 50, I’ll be excited,” Fielder said. “But right now I have to try to be calm.”

Erickson, who has won five in a row, is 7-3 since the All-Star break with a 2.39 earned-run average.

Oakland 7, Texas 3--Rickey Henderson’s bid for the batting title and Lou Brock’s lifetime stolen base record were put on hold at Arlington, Tex.

Manager Tony La Russa said Henderson was nearly exhausted mentally and physically and would sit out the next two games. Henderson needs four steals to catch Brock.

Willie McGee hit safely his first three times at bat to help Todd Burns post the victory in a rare starting role.

Chicago 5, Seattle 2--Frank Thomas keyed a seventh-inning comeback with a two-run single at Chicago and Eric King (12-4) won his fourth in a row.

Bobby Thigpen picked up his 56th save in the last night game at Comiskey Park.

Milwaukee 8, New York 1--Bill Spiers, the Brewers’ No. 9 hitter, hit a bases-loaded triple in the second inning at Milwaukee to break open the game.

Jaime Navarro (8-7) pitched his third complete game in 22 starts.