AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cadaret Finishes What He Starts

There was no doubt the New York Yankees could hit. The question has been pitching.

Among other things, the pitchers had forgotten the meaning of complete game. The Yankee starters had gone 93 consecutive games without one.

The streak ended Saturday at New York when Greg Cadaret gave up nine hits in a 14-0 romp over the Cleveland Indians.

Hot-hitting Mel Hall singled twice and drove home two runs in a 10-run fourth inning.

The last Yankee to pitch a complete game was Scott Sanderson on July 11, 1991.

That big inning was all Cadaret needed. The Indians had baserunners in almost every inning, but with the big lead, there was no worry.

The big inning, lasting 40 minutes, almost was too much for Cadaret.

“For the first 20 minutes, I just sat there,” he said. “When they switched pitchers, I came up to the locker room and stretched. There wasn’t much I could do.

“I had no way of knowing whether I would stiffen up in the raw weather.”

Caderet threw 140 pitches.

“I think pitch count is very overrated. It depends how you feel,” he said. “I like starting. I like relieving. Whatever helps this club is fine.”

Cadaret made 58 appearances last year, starting five times.

Hall, who went three for four, drove in four runs, scored two and raised his average to .341.

Oakland 5, Texas 3--Friday night at Arlington, Tex., relief pitcher Terry Mathews stopped a rally by getting Jose Canseco to hit into a double play.

On Saturday, Mathews came in to protect a 3-2 lead with a runner on in the eighth inning. Canseco blasted a line drive into a stiff wind for his sixth home run and a 4-3 lead.

“I’ll tell you, that was a serious line drive,” Canseco said. “I put 35 ounces of wood to use on that one. It was the only kind of hit that would go out of here on a day like this.”

Toronto 2, Boston 1--Frank Viola is having almost as much trouble winning in the American League as Bret Saberhagen is in the National League.

Viola (0-2) pitched a complete game in his third try for the Red Sox and gave up only six hits.

There were two problems: Three of the hits came in the second inning at Boston and accounted for the two runs. Also, Todd Stottlemyre of the Blue Jays pitched even better than Viola.

Stottlemyre pitched a three-hitter. It had been four years since Stottlemyre last beat the Red Sox.

“I made a lot of mistakes, but with the win blowing in and the heavy air I got away with most of them,” he said.

Baltimore 6, Detroit 1--Mike Mussina gave up seven hits and a run in eight innings at Baltimore.

The 23-year-old right-hander has made 14 major-league starts. In 10 of them he has given up two or fewer runs and has an earned-run average of 2.66. This victory evened his record at 5-5.

“As long as I’m getting my turn every time and I’m getting into the seventh or eighth inning, I’ll be satisfied with whatever happens,” Mussina said.

Seattle 5, Milwaukee 3--Harold Reynolds squeezed home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning at Milwaukee and bullpen ace Mike Schooler escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning.

Schooler came in with Seattle leading, 4-3, one out and runners on second and third. After striking out Greg Vaughn, Schooler walked a batter to fill the bases and retired Franklin Stubbs on a weak fly to end the threat.

Chicago 4, Minnesota 3--An error by third baseman Mike Pagliarulo allowed Ozzie Guillen to score from third base in the seventh inning at Chicago to break a 3-3 tie.

The error made a loser of Scott Erickson, a 20-game winner last season who fell to 0-1 after three starts. The Twins aren’t concerned about the right-hander. He lost his first two decisions last year then won 12 in a row.

Jack McDowell (3-0) survived a rocky start, giving up all three runs in the first inning. He settled down to pitch a complete game.