AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Rangers’ Ryan Finally Wins at Baltimore

Most pitchers don’t last in the major leagues for as many years as the Texas Rangers’ Nolan Ryan went between victories in Baltimore.

Ryan, 44, gave up four hits in 7 1/3 innings Saturday as the Rangers won, 1-0. Ryan, who struck out 10, had not won at Memorial Stadium since May 18, 1975.

Ryan, who spent nine of those years in the National League, had lost seven in a row at Baltimore. Until last week in Texas, Ryan had not beaten the Orioles for 15 years.

The Orioles’ Jose Mesa, who was 9 when Ryan last won in Baltimore, gave up four hits in seven innings. The Rangers’ Gary Pettis opened the fifth with a broken-bat single to right and stole second. He went to third on Geno Petralli’s infield hit and scored on Rafael Palmeiro’s sacrifice fly.

“I’ve always felt comfortable here,” Ryan said, “but for some reason hadn’t been successful. I think this was a reflection of some of the games we’ve had in the past. You don’t score a lot of runs against them.”

Since his poor performance in the opener, Ryan has pitched two strong games. In two starts against the Orioles he has pitched 14 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and three runs and striking out 19.

Ryan, who has 59 shutouts, gave up a double with one out in the eighth inning to Mike Devereaux and Jeff Russell came to the rescue. As Ryan walked off, he was given a standing ovation. Russell retired the last five batters, two on strikes, for his second save.

Seattle 3, Oakland 2--A’s relief ace Dennis Eckersley blew a save for only the third time in 55 chances, and Scott Bradley’s single off Steve Chitren capped a three-run rally in the ninth inning for the Mariners at home.

Eckersley, who gave up a two-run homer to Alvin Davis, was knocked out after allowing three hits and failing to retire a batter. That hadn’t happened since May 19, 1989.

Davis hit his second homer, the first off Eckersley since last Aug. 30, after Edgar Martinez singled to start the inning. After the homer, only the third Eckersley (0-1) has allowed in two seasons, Greg Briley singled.

Chirtren relieved and Briley stole his fourth base before Bradley singled to right field for his second game-winning hit in four games. The hit gave Erik Hanson (1-1) a complete-game victory, extended Seattle’s winning streak to five games and Oakland’s losing streak to three.

Detroit 2, Chicago 1--The White Sox are finding the new Comiskey Park to be quite inhospitable.

Tony Phillips singled with two outs in the 12th inning to drive in the winning run for the Tigers.

The White Sox are 0-2 in their new park and have only one run in 21 innings.

Carlton Fisk, stretching his hitting streak to eight games, doubled in the seventh and scored on Dan Pasqua’s single for the only Chicago run.

Toronto 4, Milwaukee 2--It took Jimmy Key more than half of last season to get his pitching straightened out. The Toronto left-hander doesn’t want that to happen again.

Key, who was 7-2 in the last two months last season, gave up six hits in seven innings at Milwaukee for his third victory.

Seven walks helped the Blue Jays beat Chris Bosio for the sixth time in a row.

Kansas City 5, New York 2--Tom Gordon, unhappy as the No. 5 starter on the Royals and concerned about a trade rumor, made his pitch at New York.

Gordon, a 17-game winner in 1989, struck out 13, gave up four hits and no runs in seven innings.

“I think I can be a No. 1 or 2 starter,” Gordon said. “I’m hoping I don’t get traded.”

Boston 2, Cleveland 1--Greg Harris (1-2) pitched six shutout innings, giving up three hits at Cleveland as the Red Sox won their fourth in a row.

Mike Greenwell singled in one run and Carlos Quintana doubled in the other to beat Tom Candiotti (2-2).