BASEBALL ROUNDUP : A’s Get a Look at the Past When Tigers Steal Victory

It was the kind of run the Oakland Athletics used to get, scored by a player the A’s used to have.

“That’s a Tony rally,” said Tony Phillips, who scored two runs, including the one that broke a tie and gave the Tigers a 6-5 victory over the A’s on Thursday at Detroit. “When I was in Oakland we called that a Rickey (Henderson) rally. I really don’t have a green light. Today I was aggressive and I got good jumps.”

It was the A’s fourth loss in a row and 20th in 22 games. It was brought about, in part, because they stranded 11 runners.

“We had big chances to win this game, and I thought we should have won it,” Oakland Manager Tony La Russa said.

They didn’t because Phillips, an Athletic in the glory days of the ‘80s, singled against Billy Taylor (0-1) to start the sixth inning, then stole second and third. Travis Fryman brought him home with a sacrifice fly.

On the second steal, third base umpire Daryl Cousins ruled Phillips’ head-first slide beat the tag of third baseman Scott Brosius.

“I thought the steal of third base, looking back at the game, was the big play,” La Russa said. “That’s tough for me to take because that’s a play we should stop. Brosius thought he was out, but we let Phillips get too big a jump.”

New York 7, Cleveland 6--Bernie Williams singled home the winning run with the bases loaded in the 10th inning at New York as the Yankees stretched their winning streak to seven games.

Mike Stanley reached on third baseman Jim Thome’s fielding error and took third on a single against Eric Plunk (3-2) by pinch-hitter Luis Polonia, his 1,000th hit.

Reliever Steve Farr intentionally walked Mike Gallego, and Williams slapped a 2-and-2 pitch past first baseman Eddie Murray for his third hit of the game.

Boston 3, Milwaukee 1--Roger Clemens stopped Milwaukee on two hits in seven innings and the Brewers wasted a strong performance by Ricky Bones at Boston.

Clemens (4-1) struck out eight and walked three before leaving after seven innings because of an apparent minor leg problem. He lowered his earned-run average to 0.80 in his last six starts covering 45 innings. His ERA for the season is 2.59.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Chicago 8, St. Louis 6--Pinch-hitter Shawon Dunston broke a ninth-inning tie with a two-run homer as the Cubs rallied from a four-run deficit to win at St. Louis.

Mark Parent led off the ninth inning with a single, his third hit. Two batters later, Dunston homered against Rob Murphy (1-2).

Philadelphia 6, Pittsburgh 4--Pete Incaviglia went three for three and scored three runs at Philadelphia to help the Phillies end a three-game losing streak.