AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : McGwire Joins Select Company With Homer

It was encouraging for Mark McGwire to learn that the four hitters who reached 200 home runs in fewer at-bats than he did all are in the Hall of Fame. But, at age 28, he doesn’t expect to break any home run records.

McGwire hit a two-run home run in the second inning at Milwaukee Wednesday to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 5-2 victory over the Brewers to get his 200th in his 2,852nd at-bat. Ralph Kiner, Babe Ruth, Harmon Killebrew and Eddie Mathews all got there in fewer at-bats.

Kiner did it the quickest hitting No. 200 in his 2,537th at-bat. Until McGwire went into a slump last season, he was on target to be No. 1. He hit only 22 in 483 at-bats and batted only .201.

This season, McGwire hit his 22nd home run in his 196th at-bat.

“Having your name associated with them is an honor,” McGwire said. “I don’t think I’ll play long enough to reach 500. Those are a lot of years. I’ll play until it stops being fun.

“When you hit each century mark, I think you are aware of it. I knew what I needed to get coming into the season. Nobody said anything to me on the bench, so I didn’t either.”

McGwire said he is getting tired of people bringing up last season.

“This is a new year,” he said. “I’m no longer hearing that I’m headed for the minors or about to be traded. I heard I was 27 and old. That my career was over. I didn’t hide from it, but I don’t hear it anymore.”

Anytime a player gets off to a fast start in home runs, they start talking about 1961 when Roger Maris hit 61. For the record, McGwire--if he keeps up the current pace--would hit 63.

Harold Baines also hit a home run for the Athletics to help Ron Darling improve to 6-3. Darling gave up both runs and seven hits in seven innings.

Dennis Eckersley finished up for his 22nd save in as many opportunities. After Gene Nelson pitched a perfect eighth, Eckersley gave up two hits, but needed only 15 pitches to retire the side.

Dante Bichette had three hits for the Brewers, including his third home run.

Toronto 10, New York 3--Joe Carter homered, tripled, doubled and drove in four runs at New York and the Blue Jays remained in first place in the East.

In sweeping the three-game series the Blue Jays outscored the slumping Yankees, 28-7.

In this game, they had 15 hits, including two home runs, three triples and four doubles.

Greg Myers’ three-run home run sparked a six-run rally second inning. Jimmy Key, given the big lead, went 6 2/3 innings and improved his record to 4-4.

Baltimore 3, Boston 1--Another sparkling performance by Rick Sutcliffe at Baltimore led the Orioles to their eighth win in the last 11 games.

Sutcliffe (9-4) allowed six hits in seven innings to win his fourth consecutive start. He lost his shutout when Ellis Burks hit his sixth home run in the seventh inning. It is the only run off Sutcliffe in the last 15 innings.

The Orioles have won four consecutive series to remain in hot pursuit of Toronto.

Mike Devereaux drove in two runs. Tom Bolton (1-2) matched Sutcliffe for four innings, striking out five and giving up just two hits. But Joe Orsulak opened the fifth with a triple, Brady Anderson singled and Devereaux tripled.

“There must be some frustrated people in the other clubhouse,” Sutcliffe said. “They hit a lot of balls hard. I was lucky to get through seven innings tonight.”

Kansas City 7, Minnesota 6--Brian McRae had three hits and drove in three runs at Kansas City and the Royals won despite blowing a 5-0 lead.

Kevin Appier was breezing along until the sixth inning, when the Twins scored six runs on eight hits. The big blow was a three-run home run by Kent Hrbek.

But McRae, who has been on a hitting spree, and Keith Miller had run-scoring singles in the bottom of the inning to give the Royals the lead. Although he has batted .350 in his last 14 games, McRae’s batting average is just .211.

Appier struck out seven in the first five innings and went into the game with a 2.14 ERA. But he gave up five consecutive hits without retiring a batter in the sixth.

Cleveland 4, Detroit 2--Glenallen Hill, the Indians’ designated hitter, hit his second home run of the game in the 11th inning at Detroit. It was his fourth home run the last two days.

Steve Olin (1-3) pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings to get his first victory.

Hill’s first home run gave the Indians a 2-0 lead in the seventh, but the Tigers battled back to tie in the eighth.

Texas 5, Seattle 3--Juan Gonzalez hit his fifth home run in the last five games at Arlington, Tex., to keep the Rangers one game behind first-place Oakland in the West.

The Rangers scored all five runs in the third, with Dickie Thon hitting a two-run home run.

Jose Guzman (6-3) gave up six hits in seven innings in winning his fourth in a row and Jeff Russell pitched the ninth for his 16th save.

Play was suspended for 38 minutes in the seventh inning when a thunderstorm passed through the area.

The Fast Lane

The five batters with the fewest at-bats needed to reach 200 career home runs: Ralph Kiner: 2,537 Babe Ruth: 2,580 Harmon Killebrew: 2,584 Eddie Mathews: 2,811 x-Mark McGwire: 2,852 x-active