AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : McGwire Injures Ribs in Athletics’ Loss

The Oakland Athletics might have lost more than a game Friday night.

The Baltimore Orioles defeated the A’s, 4-2, at Baltimore, but Oakland players are more concerned about the condition of first baseman Mark McGwire, who suffered a rib cage injury during the fourth inning.

McGwire, who leads the majors with 38 home runs, said he felt stiffness before the game and aggravated the condition diving for a grounder in the first inning. He hurt himself again during the fourth inning when he swung at a pitch from Mike Mussina. After trying to stretch, McGwire left the game.

“I think it will be a few days before I play . . .” said McGwire, who has missed only one of the A’s 122 games. “You have to play through pain, but when I took the swing, I knew it was too much.”

Brady Anderson hit his 17th home run and Leo Gomez hit his 16th homer for the Orioles, who moved within two games of first-place Toronto in the East. Anderson has homered in his last five games against the A’s.

Mussina (12-5) gave up two runs, eight hits, no walks and struck out four in six innings. Todd Frohwirth followed and Alan Mills got the final six outs for his second save.

Mike Devereaux of the Orioles drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning and had a run-scoring grounder that broke a fifth-inning tie. Devereaux has driven in 21 runs in his past 19 games.

Carney Lansford homered and drove in both runs for the A’s.

Kelly Downs (3-4) gave up three hits in four-plus innings, and he issued six of Oakland’s nine walks.

Cleveland 8, Texas 6--At Cleveland, Albert Belle hit his 24th homer as the Indians earned their 57th victory and equaled last year’s win total.

Dennis Cook (5-5) gave up four runs and five hits in six innings for the Indians, who have won four consecutive games. Steve Olin got four outs for his 22nd save.

Nolan Ryan gave up seven runs in less than five innings and lost his fourth consecutive decision.

Ryan (5-7) had one strikeout in 4 1/3 innings, his lowest strikeout total in an appearance longer than two innings since April of 1985. The seven runs matched the most he has given up in a game in his three-plus seasons with the Rangers.

Ryan is 0-4 with a 6.43 ERA in five August starts. The losing streak is his worst since he lost five consecutive decisions in 1988.

Juan Gonzalez, Ruben Sierra and Dean Palmer homered for the Rangers.

Milwaukee 3, Detroit 2--Jaime Navarro beat the Tigers for the fifth consecutive time as the Brewers pulled to within 3 1/2 games of division-leading Toronto with the victory at Milwaukee.

Navarro (14-8) is 5-0 in nine career starts against the Tigers. He gave up seven hits in eight innings, struck out six and walked none before Doug Henry finished with a perfect ninth for his 24th save in 27 chances.

Cecil Fielder of the Tigers got his major league-leading 104th RBI with a sacrifice fly in the first.

Travis Fryman hit his 18th homer for the Tigers.

Minnesota 5, Toronto 1--Kent Hrbek homered, singled and drove in three runs at Minneapolis as the Twins ended a five-game losing streak.

The Twins won for only the eighth time in 24 games.

Hrbek tied Tony Oliva for second place on Minnesota’s all-time RBI list with 947, trailing only Harmon Killebrew’s 1,325. Hrbek had been batting .155 since the All-Star break.

John Smiley (13-6) gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out four before leaving after facing one batter in the ninth. Carl Willis got the final three outs.

Roberto Alomar’s seventh homer in the eighth inning was the only run against Smiley, 13-4 with a 2.86 ERA in his last 21 starts.

Kansas City 4, Chicago 3--David Howard drove in the go-ahead run at Chicago with a bases-loaded groundout during the eighth.

Frank Thomas and George Bell hit consecutive home runs during the fifth inning for the White Sox.

Rusty Meacham (8-3) gave up one hit during two scoreless innings, and Jeff Montgomery got three outs for his 31st save in 35 chances.

Seattle 5, Boston 2--Randy Johnson (10-12) pitched seven shutout innings and struck out 11 at Boston for the victory.

The Red Sox had not scored in 20 innings before the ninth, when Eric Wedge hit his first major league home run, a two-run drive against Shawn Barton.

Frank Viola (10-10) gave up five runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.