AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Oates, McRae Losers in Debuts as Managers

As he watched his debut unfold as manager of the Orioles Friday night at Baltimore, Johnny Oates didn’t have anything to celebrate.

The Orioles were beaten by the New York Yankees, 7-1, and for a while, Oates wondered if his team was going to get a hit.

Cal Ripken Jr. ended the suspense when he led off the seventh inning with a double, but the Orioles managed only three in the opener for the new manager.

Scott Sanderson (5-2) in his second early season bid for a no-hitter, went five hitless innings before his shoulder stiffened and he had to leave. Greg Cadaret added one more hitless inning before Ripken doubled.

In his first start for the Yankees April 10, Sanderson lost a no-hitter on a wind-blown double in the ninth inning.

Oates became the Orioles’ 10th manager when he replaced Frank Robinson on Thursday. The loss was the 13th in the past 18 games for the last-place Orioles.

Oates was hard-pressed to find anything positive. “The best thing is, that it’s over,” he said.

The Yankees had lost six of their previous nine games, but from the time Kevin Maas homered in the second inning, they were in charge of this one.

Ripken, who made only three errors last season, made two in this game and already has four.

Minnesota 3, Kansas City 2--Hal McRae made his debut as manager of the Royals at Minneapolis, and the Twins’ Chili Davis spoiled it.

Davis was four for four, scored a run and drove in the other two. Jack Morris (4-5), with help from Rick Aguilera on the last two outs, was the winner.

Oakland 6, Chicago 5--Bobby Thigpen loaded the bases with two intentional walks, then walked Terry Steinbach and forced in the winning run at Oakland.

Thigpen (2-1) gave up a game-tying two-run homer to Mark McGwire in the eighth inning, his fourth blown save in 13 chances.

He walked leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson in the ninth and Henderson stole second. Lance Blankenship sacrificed, Jose Canseco popped out and White Sox Manager Jeff Torborg decided to intentionally walk Harold Baines and Dave Henderson. Thigpen then walked Steinbach on a 3-1 pitch.

Dennis Eckersley (1-1) got the victory by getting the final out in the top of the inning.

Texas 7, Seattle 3--The Rangers extended their club-record winning streak to 11 games.

Steve Buechele, a key hitter in the streak, hit a three-run home run to highlight a five-run third inning that sent Kenny Rogers to his fourth victory in a row.

Boston 10, Detroit 9--Hot-hitting Carlos Quintana had four hits and drove in four runs in a wild battle at Detroit.

Although he gave up six runs in 6 1/3 innings, Tom Bolton improved to 5-1.

Milwaukee 1, Cleveland 0--Jaime Navarro (4-2) pitched a four-hitter for his first shutout, and Robin Yount singled home the only run in the third inning after an error by rookie second baseman Mark Lewis.