AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Mariners’ Johnson Loses No-Hit Bid in Ninth, Beats A’s

Randy Johnson came within two outs of Seattle’s second no-hitter of the season and the second of his career, finishing with a one-hitter as the Mariners beat the Athletics, 7-0, Sunday at Oakland.

With one out in the ninth and a runner on first, the A’s Lance Blankenship hit a soft line drive that fell in front of right fielder Jay Buhner.

It was the second time in his career that Johnson lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning against Oakland. On Aug. 14, 1991, Mike Gallego singled for the A’s only hit against him.

Johnson, a 6-foot-10 left-hander, pitched a no-hitter for the Mariners against Detroit on June 2, 1990.

He carried a perfect game into the eighth inning but walked Kevin Seitzer on a 3-and-2 pitch with one out. The last perfect game was by Montreal’s Dennis Martinez against the Dodgers on July 28, 1991.

Seattle teammate Chris Bosio pitched a no-hitter against Boston April 22 at the Kingdome.

Johnson walked Mike Bordick on four pitches leading off the ninth before Terry Steinbach grounded into a force play, shortstop to second. Blankenship then singled and Rickey Henderson walked to load the bases. But Johnson struck out the next two.

Johnson (6-2) struck out 14 and walked three and now leads the majors with 77 strikeouts.

For the 26th time in his career, and second time this season, Johnson struck out at least 10 batters in a game. He struck out the side in the fourth and struck out Rickey Henderson three times.

Mike Blowers hit a grand slam against Bobby Witt (3-2) during the sixth inning for Seattle as the Mariners stopped a 16-game losing streak at the Oakland Coliseum.

Baltimore 3, Detroit 2--Mike Mussina tied a club record with 14 strikeouts in eight innings to lead the Orioles past the Tigers at Detroit.

Mussina (5-1) gave up five hits and walked one, improving to 4-0 lifetime against Detroit with a 0.88 earned-run average.

He tied the team record for strikeouts in a game set by Bob Turley in 1954 against Cleveland and Connie Johnson against the New York Yankees in 1957.

Mussina struck out every Tiger starter at least once, and struck out Chad Kreuter three times.

David Haas (1-2) was the loser in relief of the injured Bill Gullickson.

Boston 11, Minnesota 5--Mo Vaughn singled home two sixth-inning runs and keyed a six-run seventh with another run-scoring single as the Red Sox rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win at Minneapolis.

Joe Hesketh (3-3) pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief for Boston, which had been 0-16 when behind entering the seventh inning.

Boston scored once during the fifth and twice during the sixth but still trailed, 4-3, entering the seventh. Scott Fletcher doubled and Mike Hartley (0-2) walked Ernest Riles.

An out later, Fletcher scored on a fielder’s choice. After a walk, Vaughn drove in two runs with a single for a 5-4 Red Sox lead.

Scott Cooper, John Valentin and Tony Pena added run-scoring hits during the inning.

Milwaukee 5, Cleveland 3--John Jaha’s two-run single capped a four-run first at Milwaukee, giving right-hander Jaime Navarro his first victory of the season.

Navarro (1-3), a 17-game winner last season, finally got a victory in his eighth start, surviving a three-run first in which he gave up four hits. He pitched 7 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits.

The Indians scored three runs during the first inning on run-scoring hits by Carlos Baerga and Carlos Martinez.

But the Brewers came back with four runs against Mike Bielecki (3-3) during the bottom half on a run-scoring hits by Kevin Reimer and Jaha.

Toronto 12, New York 6--Paul Molitor hit two of the Blue Jays’ five home runs and also scored from second base on a wild pitch, leading Toronto at New York.

Matt Nokes homered twice and drove in five runs for the Yankees. Joe Carter, Devon White and John Olerud homered for Toronto.

Todd Stottlemyre (4-4) ended his three-game losing streak. Mike Witt (2-1) lasted only 2 1/3 innings.

Chicago 15, Texas 8--Ellis Burks drove in six runs to match his career high, hitting a grand slam and a solo home run at Arlington, Tex., as the White Sox routed the Rangers.

Bo Jackson added a three-run homer and Frank Thomas had four hits. Dean Palmer hit a fourth-inning grand slam for Texas against Alex Fernandez (5-2).

Kenny Rogers (3-3) gave up 10 earned runs, the most ever by a Rangers starter.