BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : Gant Clears Waivers, Becomes Free Agent

Outfielder Ron Gant cleared waivers by the Atlanta Braves, making him a free agent. Gant suffered a broken leg in a dirt bike accident last month and will sit out at least three months of this season. He had signed a $5.5-million, one-year contract one week before the accident, but it wasn’t guaranteed. . . . Shortstop Chipper Jones, one of baseball’s premier rookies, appeared to tear the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, which would end his season for the Braves, while running out a grounder.

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Bob Watson, Houston Astro general manager, said he tried to bring Nolan Ryan back to Houston, but the Texas Rangers turned him down.

“I tried to trade a player for a retired player,” Watson told a Houston radio station. “That would have been the first time in history that’s happened.”

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Keith Mitchell hit a 440-foot drive for his fourth home run of the spring, and Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez and Dan Wilson also homered for Seattle in the Mariners’ 9-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Peoria, Ariz. The Mariners have 24 homers in 15 games. . . . Mike Greenwell had four hits, including two solo homers, drove in four runs and scored four to lead the Boston Red Sox past the Texas Rangers, 10-4, at Port Charlotte, Fla. . . . Jose Oquendo had a grand slam and Mark Whiten added a two-run homer in a seven-run eighth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-8, at Sarasota, Fla. . . . The Baltimore Orioles hit six home runs, including five in the first four innings, and defeated the Cleveland Indians, 20-8, in a split-squad game at Winter Haven, Fla.