AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Mattingly, Maas Homer to Lift Yankees, Wickman

Don Mattingly hit his first home run of the season and Kevin Maas had a three-run homer, leading Bob Wickman and the New York Yankees past the Oakland Athletics, 4-2, Tuesday night at New York.

Wickman (3-0) gave up one run and three hits in eight innings. Steve Farr pitched the ninth and got his sixth save despite giving up Troy Neel’s third home run of the season.

Mattingly homered for the first time in 175 at-bats, dating to last Sept. 15, when he connected against Chicago’s Alex Fernandez. Mattingly, who later singled twice, homered in the first inning against Shawn Hillegas (1-3).

That ended the second longest homerless drought of Mattingly’s career. He went 312 at-bats without one from May 20, 1990 to April 20, 1991, when his chronic back problem was at its worst.

Wickman raised his major league record to 9-1, the fastest start for a Yankee starter since 1950, when Whitey Ford went 9-0 as a rookie. Wickman gave up three singles and walked four.

Detroit 5, Kansas City 3--Cecil Fielder hit a home run, his first in 21 games, and also had a run-scoring single to lead the Tigers at Detroit.

Rob Deer and Chad Kreuter, who went three for four, also hit solo home runs for Detroit.

Dave Johnson (1-0), called up from triple-A Toledo before the game, pitched 1 1/3 innings for his first major league victory since Aug. 20, 1991, when he was with Baltimore. Mike Henneman got his sixth save.

Minnesota 4, Baltimore 3--Scott Erickson picked up his first victory of the season at Minneapolis.

Baltimore’s Harold Baines extended his streak of reaching base to 13 with a walk in the first inning, tying Jim Dwyer’s team record and leaving him three short of the major league mark held by Ted Williams. Baines grounded out in his next at-bat and left the game in the fifth after injuring his rib cage while checking his swing.

Erickson (1-3), who had lost five consecutive decisions since beating the Angels last Sept. 18, gave up one run and three hits in seven innings. He walked four and struck out six.

Seattle 7, Boston 6--The Mariners sweated out Boston’s five-run rally in the ninth inning and held on for the victory at Boston.

Andre Dawson drove in two runs with a pinch-single off Norm Charlton, making it 7-6 and putting runners at first and second with one out in the ninth. But Charlton retired Billy Hatcher and John Valentin on fly balls for his fifth save.

The Mariners used four pitchers in the last inning. Starter Tim Leary (1-1), who had retired 14 consecutive batters before leaving after a leadoff walk in the ninth, was the winner.

Milwaukee 6, Chicago 1--Mike Boddicker pitched six innings at Milwaukee for his first victory as a starter since Sept. 20, 1991.

Kevin Reimer homered, doubled and drove in three runs, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.

Boddicker, acquired from Kansas City last week, got his first win since last September, when he was a reliever for the Royals. Boddicker (1-1) gave up five hits before leaving after walking Ellis Burks to start the seventh.

Texas 3, Toronto 2--Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez had run-scoring singles during the eighth inning to help the Rangers rally at Arlington, Tex.

Juan Guzman, coming off the first shutout of his career, took a 2-1 lead into the eighth.

Julio Franco led off with a double and Gonzalez tied it with a single off Duane Ward (0-1). With two out, Rodriguez singled to center.

Brian Bohanon (1-0) got the last out in the eighth and was the winner.