AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Blue Jay Margin Dwindles to Half a Game

The Athletics sent their newest ace out to face the Toronto Blue Jays Saturday at Oakland and further tightened the race in the American League East.

No, it was neither Bob Welch nor Dave Stewart.

Mike Moore held the slumping Blue Jays to four hits in eight innings and Willie Wilson’s two-out, two-run double was the key in a 4-0 victory.

Moore improved his record to 15-8 and cut the Blue Jays’ lead over the Boston Red Sox to half a game.

The Blue Jays had played four consecutive extra-inning games, losing three, and it appeared, the way Jimmy Key and Moore were pitching, that they would play a record-tying fifth in a row.

But with two out and two on in the eighth inning, Wilson sent a line drive to left-center to break the scoreless tie. Harold Baines and Terry Steinbach followed with run-scoring singles.

It was a tough loss for Key (15-11). He had given up only two singles until Mike Gallego singled with one out in the eighth. Mike Bordick sacrificed. Gallego was the first A’s runner to reach second. Before Wilson’s key double, Rickey Henderson was given an intentional walk.

When the Blue Jays ended season play with their East Division rivals Sept. 8, they had a five-game lead.

Six weeks ago, Toronto led the Red Sox by 11 1/2 games and was 11 ahead in the loss column. Now, both Boston and Toronto have lost 67 games.

“I hate losing,” acting Blue Jay Manager Gene Tenace said. “But this is a different team than the ones in the past. Three weeks ago, we were in this same situation with Detroit, but we came out smoking. We’ve got to do it again.”

A death threat was phoned to Wilson after his hit, and he was escorted by police to his car.

Boston 12, New York 1--Their two best hitters, Wade Boggs and Mike Greenwell, are out with injuries, but the Red Sox are rolling.

Rookie Phil Plantier and Jack Clark led a 14-hit attack that buried the Yankees at Boston and kept the pressure on Toronto.

Plantier hit two home runs and Clark hit his 25th home run, a two-run smash in the third inning that sent Joe Hesketh (11-4) to a career-high win total.

Hesketh, a once-promising left-hander with the Montreal Expos whose career was almost ended a couple of years ago because of elbow and shoulder problems, is 9-3 since coming out of the bullpen after the All-Star break.

He gave up four hits in eight innings, and the Red Sox, scoring in every inning except the first, won their fourth in a row and their 14th in the past 17.

Milwaukee 5, Detroit 2--The Blue Jays are coming back to the pack, but the Tigers aren’t there to meet them.

Although Cecil Fielder regained the major league home run lead at Detroit with his 43rd, the Tigers lost their fifth in a row.

Bill Wegman (13-7) gave up only two hits besides Fielder’s home run in eight innings and is 7-1 in his past nine starts.

Fielder, celebrating his 28th birthday, hit the two-run home run in the first inning. He has driven in 128 runs.

Minnesota 8, Texas 4--Kevin Tapani pitched the Twins a step closer to the pennant in the West. They are seven games ahead of Chicago.

With Brian Harper getting two doubles and driving in two runs at Minneapolis, Tapani (16-8) won for the 14th time in 16 decisions.

Kent Hrbek hit a two-run home run in the first inning and the Twins halted another hot pitcher, Jose Guzman (12-6). Guzman had been 5-0 with an ERA of 1.44 in his past six starts.

Cleveland 10, Baltimore 1--Albert Belle hit his 27th home run and drove in five runs at Cleveland to help Greg Swindell (9-14) coast to victory.

Seattle 4, Kansas City 1--Dave Fleming pitched five shutout innings in his first major league start and earned the win at Seattle.

Mark Gubicza (8-11) lost his fourth in a row.

The Race Is On

A look at the standings in the American League East, where the race has tightened considerably in the past 6 1/2 weeks. Sept. 21

Team W L GB Toronto 82 67 -- Boston 81 67 1/2 Detroit 75 72 6

Aug. 7

Team W L GB Toronto 62 46 -- Detroit 55 52 6 1/2 Boston 50 57 11 1/2