AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Abbott’s No-Hit Bid Ended by Bo Jackson

It has been nearly 10 years since there was a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium, and for a while it appeared as though Jim Abbott would get one.

But Bo Jackson came to the plate for the Chicago White Sox with one out in the eighth.

Jackson looped Abbott’s pitch into center field for a single. Ron Karkovice then hit a three-and-one pitch into the left-field stands for his fifth homer. Abbott settled for a two-hitter as the New York Yankees scored an 8-2 victory.

The last no-hitter at Yankee Stadium was by Dave Righetti against the Boston Red Sox on July 4, 1983.

“I really wasn’t thinking about it too much,” said Abbott, whose previous low-hit game was four. “I was just trying to throw strikes.

“Any time you’re close, you hope maybe you will get lucky and get it. You don’t know how many chances you’re going to get. Bo Jackson has a very strong swing, and he just hit it out over second base. I wish I would have collected myself a little better on the first three pitches to Karkovice.”

Entering the game, Abbott had a record of only 3-5 with a 4.57 earned-run average. He had given up 76 hits in 67 innings.

On Saturday, he walked four and struck out six in eight innings before Bobby Munoz got the last three outs in his major league debut.

Jim Leyritz drove in four runs for the Yankees with a three-run homer and a single.

Leyritz’s homer during the first came against Wilson Alvarez (5-1), who pitched a no-hitter on Aug. 11, 1991, at Baltimore against the Orioles as a rookie.

Boston 15, Texas 1--Danny Darwin won his fifth consecutive game by giving up four hits and striking out eight in six innings as the Red Sox overcame four errors at Boston.

The Rangers, who got only two hits during a 4-1 defeat Friday to Boston, had six against Darwin and two relievers and are batting .203 in their last 11 games.

Darwin (5-4), who started the season with four consecutive losses and an 8.20 ERA, has given up only six earned runs in his last six starts to lower his ERA to 3.49.

Bob Zupcic doubled in two runs for Boston and Ivan Calderon, who had not had a hit in his last 16 at-bats, had a two-run single. Andre Dawson, Billy Hatcher and Mo Vaughn singled in runs and Ernest Riles had an RBI groundout.

Toronto 5, Oakland 3--Dave Stewart was a winner in his return to Oakland as the Blue Jays beat the Athletics to end a three-game losing streak.

Stewart (2-1) pitched five innings, giving up three runs and six hits while striking out three and walking two to beat former teammate Bob Welch (4-4).

The crowd greeted Stewart with a standing ovation and chants of “Stew, Stew.” He acknowledged them with a wave of his cap and then struck out his friend, Rickey Henderson, to start the game.

It was Stewart’s first appearance at the Oakland Coliseum since defeating Toronto in Game 6 of last season’s American League playoffs. The Blue Jays came back to beat the A’s in the deciding game en route to their first World Series title.

Stewart, who won 116 games in seven years with Oakland, joined Toronto as a free agent during the off-season.

Minnesota 9, Cleveland 3--Kent Hrbek hit a 460-foot homer and drove in three runs, leading the Twins past the Indians at Minneapolis for their third consecutive victory.

The Twins matched their longest winning streak of the season. They have lost eight in a row twice.

Kirby Puckett also hit a two-run homer and Mike Pagliarulo had three of the Twins’ 15 hits.

Hrbek hit a two-run homer, an RBI single and a double before leaving the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with a slight ankle sprain. He turned his right ankle on his double in the sixth.

Willie Banks (4-2) pitched six innings, giving up four hits, including Carlos Baerga’s three-run homer.

Kansas City 6, Milwaukee 5--David Howard scored on a wild pitch by James Austin with two out in the 13th inning to give the Royals a victory at Milwaukee.

Howard singled and went to third on a single by Felix Jose before scoring the winning run.

Bill Sampen (2-0) pitched two innings for the victory. Jeff Montgomery got the three outs for his American League leading 15th save.

The Brewers overcame a 5-0 deficit with one run in the fifth inning and two runs each in the sixth and seventh to send the game into extra innings.

Detroit 3, Seattle 2--Lou Whitaker went four for four and Travis Fryman hit two sacrifice flies, leading the Tigers at Seattle.

Whitaker tripled, doubled, singled twice, scored once and drove in a run.

Mark Leiter (4-1) gave up two runs, one unearned, in 6 1/3 innings. Mike Henneman relieved to start the ninth and left with the bases loaded and two outs. Bob MacDonald retired Tino Martinez on a popup for his first save.