AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Henderson Makes Powerful Return to Oakland

In his first appearance at Oakland Coliseum since being traded by the Athletics, Rickey Henderson hit a home run and scored two runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the A’s, 4-2, Monday night.

Pat Hentgen (16-7) gave up six hits in seven-plus innings as the Blue Jays moved a half-game ahead of the idle New York Yankees in the American League East. But John Olerud’s chances of becoming baseball’s first .400 hitter since Ted Williams faded further as his hitless streak stretched to 12 at-bats and his batting average fell to .382.

Henderson, traded to Toronto on July 31 for pitcher Steve Karsay and outfielder Jose Herrera, received a mostly positive welcome back from the crowd of 24,371. He singled and scored on a wild pitch during the third inning to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead, then hit a homer--his first as a Blue Jay and 18th of the season--against Ron Darling (5-7) during the fifth inning.

Duane Ward got the final three outs for his 37th save.

Troy Neel and Mike Aldrete homered for the A’s.

Chicago 4, Minnesota 1--Alex Fernandez gave up three hits in seven innings at Chicago as the White Sox continued their domination of the Twins.

The White Sox, beating the Twins for the 10th time in 13 games, improved their lead in the AL West to 5 1/2 games over Texas.

Fernandez (16-6) won for the fourth time in five starts. Roberto Hernandez pitched the ninth for his 30th save in 34 attempts.

Robin Ventura drove in two runs with a single and sacrifice fly as Scott Erickson (8-16) lost for the sixth time in eight starts.

Detroit 13, Seattle 2--Bill Gullickson (12-6) gave up five hits and two earned runs in six innings at Seattle to improve his career record against the Mariners to 10-0.

The Tigers, third in the AL East, have won eight of their last nine.

Alan Trammell drove in three runs for the Tigers, who had 16 hits. Seven Tigers drove in at least one run.

Kirk Gibson hit his 13th homer and drove in three runs for the Tigers. Gibson, Lou Whitaker, and Travis Fryman each had three hits for the Tigers.

Boston 7, Texas 3--Frank Viola won his fifth straight decision at Boston, renewing the Red Sox’s hopes of a drive for the pennant.

Reacting to a six-game losing streak that Viola ended last Thursday at Texas, Red Sox Manager Butch Hobson has gone to a four-man rotation. Viola (10-8) was the first of the four to pitch on three days rest. He beat Kevin Brown (10-11) for the second time in five days.

“I’m finally mixing up the pitches a little,” Viola said. “At least I picked the right time to get going. Hopefully, it’s not too late for myself and the team.”

Milwaukee 2, Kansas City 1--John Jaha doubled home the winning run in the ninth at Milwaukee.

With one out in the ninth, Kevin Reimer singled against Tom Gordon (8-6) off the glove of first baseman Wally Joyner. Darryl Hamilton ran for Reimer and Jaha hit a line drive that skidded past shortstop Greg Gagne into shallow left. Hamilton scored from first.

Cal Eldred (15-12) took a two-hit shutout into the ninth before giving up a one-out homer to Joyner, his 14th, which tied it, 1-1.