AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : A’s Henderson Gets 1,000th Stolen Base

On the anniversary of the date he became baseball’s all-time base stealer, Rickey Henderson passed another milestone.

Last season on May 1, Henderson overtook Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals as the king of thefts.

During the first inning of the Oakland Athletics’ 7-6 victory Friday night at Detroit, Henderson stole his third base. It was his 1,000th steal, and it gave the A’s a running start.

After the Athletics took a 6-2 lead for Dave Stewart, they blew it and needed Mark McGwire’s major league-leading 11th home run during the eighth inning to break the tie.

Stewart, who has been struggling, gave up two runs during the first inning, then breezed through the sixth. He left the game after giving up hits to the first two during the seventh. The Tigers rallied for four runs to tie.

McGwire, whose 10 home runs was one short of the record for April, hit the ball into the upper deck in left field against Mike Henneman (0-1).

He made a winner out of Jeff Parrett, who is 4-0 out of the bullpen. Dennis Eckersley pitched the ninth, and has nine saves in nine tries.

“I’m not about to rest on my laurels,” Henderson had said before he reached 1,000. “I want to set a standard that will be difficult to break.”

Baltimore 15, Seattle 1--Mariner Manager Bill Plummer must have had a hunch it was going to be a long night in Baltimore.

He argued a ball call during the second inning with the Orioles at bat, was ejected and skipped what was to follow.

Mike Devereaux hit a grand slam and a solo home run and drove in six runs as the Orioles improved to 14-8.

The slam came during a six-run fifth inning that gave Ben McDonald (3-0) a 10-1 lead on his way to a complete game victory.

Chris Hoiles, Leo Gomez and Billy Ripken also hit home runs for the Orioles, who drew 13 walks, 10 from loser Randy Johnson (3-1).

New York 5, Minnesota 3--Sometimes the big hits aren’t even close to the hardest hit. Don Mattingly had a bloop double during the eighth inning that drove in the tiebreaking run at New York.

“I thought the popup was foul,” Mattingly said. “I thought it was a strange one.”

Shortly before Mattingly’s winning hit, Andy Stankiewicz got a double off the glove of diving left fielder Shane Mack that drove in the tying run.

Milwaukee 4, Toronto 3--Greg Vaughn hit a three-run home run during the sixth inning at Milwaukee and Robin Yount followed with his first home run of the season.

Jimmy Key was protecting a 3-0 lead going into the sixth, having given up only two hits. But he gave up a double to Paul Molitor and an infield hit to Pat Listach. With the count 3-and-2, Vaughn hit his fifth home run.

“That’s what gives you satisfaction, doing something to win games,” said Yount, a 19-year veteran. “I was just trying to hit it hard.”

Boston 6, Kansas City 5--It was a good night for players named Vaughn. Mo Vaughn of the Red Sox hit a two-run single with none out during the ninth inning at Boston to give the Red Sox the victory.

The Royals had blown a four-run lead, but on Keith Miller’s run-scoring single, went ahead by 5-4 during the top of the ninth.

A walk, Ellis Burks’ single and a bunt on which the throw to third was late, loaded the bases for the Red Sox. Vaughn grounded a 2-and-2 pitch from Jeff Montgomery (0-3) up the middle for the victory.

“If you don’t do well your first two or three at-bats, you just have to bear down and try to get a hit,” said Vaughn, who struck out twice and flied to left before getting two singles.

“With no outs, I was looking for something to drive at first,” Vaughn said. “But he’s a tough pitcher, so when the count got to 2-and-2, I was thinking, ‘Just put the bat on the ball.’ I wanted to make contact.”

Texas 8, Chicago 4--Rafael Palmeiro drove in three runs with a home run and a two-run triple at Chicago and Dean Palmer added a two-run home run.

The White Sox took a 3-1 lead but couldn’t hold it.