A’s Defeat Angels, Put Streak at Seven

Most teams would reel if they lost their most their most valuable player, especially when that player was voted the most valuable in the American League last season.

But the Oakland A’s, forced to do without Rickey Henderson’s bat and speed while he recovers from a strained left calf muscle, aren’t suffering.

Jose Canseco hit a home run into the right-field terrace estimated at 435 feet, and Dave Henderson hit his second home run in two games as the Athletics beat the Angels, 3-1, Wednesday night at Anaheim Stadium to vault past the Chicago White Sox into first place in the American League West.

In winning the first three games in this four-game series, the Athletics extended their winning streak to seven games. That matched their longest streak of 1990. They haven’t won eight straight since April and May of 1988, when they had a 14-game winning streak.

A crowd of 28,685 saw the Angels fall to 0-3 at home this season. The Angels mustered only three hits in seven-plus innings against Mike Moore, who recorded his second successive victory and the 100th of his career. He has lost 122 games. Joe Klink earned his first save, and the first for an Oakland reliever besides Dennis Eckersley, who has four saves.

The Angels lost the services of shortstop Dick Schofield after the fifth inning, when he left the game because of groin injury. His status is day to day.

Wally Joyner (groin pull) and Dave Winfield (tight hamstring) were already missing from the Angels’ lineup before Schofield left. Schofield, who has had frequent hamstring problems over the years, was off to a strong start with a .308 batting average.

The Athletics had seven hits off Jim Abbott (0-2) in seven innings. Abbott is 0-4 against Oakland in six career starts and has given up eight homers to the Athletics in 32 2/3 innings. Dave Henderson is nine for 15 against Abbott, including five home runs.

Abbott settled down after giving up a run in the second inning.

Mark McGwire singled to left with one out and Harold Baines followed with an opposite-field double that rolled to the wall in left. McGwire stopped at third, but he scored on Willie Wilson’s grounder to short.

Abbott helped himself in the third inning by starting the sequence in which Scott Hemond was caught in a rundown.

Hemond led off the inning by beating out a grounder to short on a close play at first. Abbott then forced the rundown when he threw to first baseman Donnie Hill, who threw to Schofield, who in turn threw to second baseman Luis Sojo for the tag on Hemond. That proved important when Mike Gallego walked, but Abbott got Dave Henderson to ground into a double play.

The Angels pulled even at 1-1 in the third.