AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Canseco Hits Back, A’s Defeat Orioles, 4-3

Ben McDonald, battling to regain the imposing form of his rookie season, made only three mistakes Sunday at Baltimore, but they were enough to beat him.

Two of the mistakes were hit for home runs by Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson, but it might have been his first error that led to Oakland’s 4-3 victory over the Orioles.

In the first inning, McDonald (4-5) hit Canseco in the back with a curveball. As Canseco went to first base, he turned and had words with the 6-foot-7 right-hander. Both benches emptied, but order was quickly restored.

McDonald had a 3-0 lead when Canseco came up with two on in the sixth and hit his major league leading 27th home run after singles by Rickey and Dave Henderson. Henderson’s tie-breaking homer in the eighth went even deeper into the seats in left.

Canseco, who didn’t appear to be angry, and Manager Tony La Russa of the A’s discounted any idea of a payback.

“My only concern was in getting the first fastball strike he threw,” Canseco said. “The first was one a ball, but the next was where I could drive it.”

McDonald scoffed at the idea he was trying to hit Canseco. It was the first of 781 batters he has faced that he has hit.

“If I was throwing at a batter,” he said, “I would throw a fastball, not a curve.”

Said La Russa: “I think it was a case of Jose wanting to win a game, not of revenge.”

It was the third victory in a row for the Athletics, who are four games behind Minnesota in the West.

“That was vintage Oakland,” said Canseco, who has nine home runs this month. “(Dennis Eckersley) comes in with a one-run lead and shuts them down. We haven’t had that lately, but he had it today.”

The A’s also had some clutch relief pitching from Rick Honeycutt. The Orioles, who have lost nine of 12 games, loaded the bases with none out in the seventh. Honeycutt struck out Randy Milligan and Chito Martinez before Leo Gomez flied out.

Kansas City 10, Toronto 4--The Royals are still last in the West, but the way they are scoring runs, they may not be there for long.

Tartabull, involved in a battle for the batting title, only had one hit at Toronto, but he walked three times to spark several rallies.

The Royals had 16 hits, with catcher Tim Spehr, brought up from the minors two weeks ago, getting three doubles to tie a club record. Warren Cromartie had four hits.

Milwaukee 11, Minnesota 2--The Brewers were in a slump and were facing Jack Morris, who had won 10 of his previous 11 starts.

So, what happened? The top two hitters in the lineup, Paul Molitor and Darryl Hamilton, went on a rampage at Minneapolis, Morris lasted only 2 2/3 innings and the Brewers easily ended a six-game losing streak.

Molitor and Hamilton each had five hits and Candy Maldonado and Franklin Stubbs homered.

Texas 10, Detroit 6--Nolan Ryan felt tightness in the back of his right shoulder after striking out his 10th batter and left the game with one out in the sixth inning at Arlington, Tex.

He had given up only two hits, home runs by Cecil Fielder and Travis Fryman. Ryan (7-5) might be ready to take his regular turn.

Chicago 5, Boston 2--As the Red Sox sink in the East, the White Sox rise in the West.

Robin Ventura hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning at Boston to bring the White Sox from behind. It was Ventura’s 10th home run in July and it put the White Sox three games out of first place.

The Red Sox have lost nine of their last 10.

Seattle 6, Cleveland 5--After winning for the 12th time in 17 games since the All-Star game, the Mariners are six games out and want to be counted in the race in the West.

“We’re playing every game as hard as we can,” said Pete O’Brien after getting three hits and three runs batted in at Cleveland. “Who knows what will happen?”