A’s Complete Sweep of Blue Jays

It was just like the old days.

With Bob Welch pitching effectively and his teammates rallying late, the A’s finished a three-game sweep of Toronto with a 9-5 victory Wednesday.

Listen closely, though, and it becomes apparent that those old days are but a distant memory, and not anything like these days.

“It’s nice to let our young players see what winning a series is like,” said Terry Steinbach, who had three hits and scored twice. “I can’t emphasize how much fun winning is.”

“When you have success, your confidence grows, and then you have a chance for some more success,” A’s manager Tony La Russa said after his last-place team’s fifth straight win against Toronto this season.

“I don’t think anybody would have laid any bets on a sweep for us,” he said, “but our pitching was very good and we got three hard-earned wins.”

The A’s scored twice in the eighth and three times in the ninth to erase a 5-4 deficit.

Brent Gates opened the eighth with a double off Tony Castillo (1-2). Mike Bordick walked an out later and Ruben Sierra hit a pinch single to score Gates.

Rickey Henderson walked to load the bases and Stan Javier fanned, but Castillo hit Gerronimo Berroa in the left shoulder to force in the winning run.

“I can’t remember the last time I hit a right-handed batter,” said the left-handed Castillo. “Today I do it in a 5-5 game.”

“I had no chance to get out of the way,” Berroa said. “But I feel no pain because we won the game.”

The A’s added three runs in the ninth against Scott Brow. Bordick, who went 2-for-4 and scored three times, hit a two-run double and Javier chipped in with a run-scoring single.

Welch (1-5) worked 2 2-3 innings in relief of Todd Van Poppel to win for the first time since last Aug. 29th. Van Poppel lasted only 4 1/3 innings.

Toronto starter Al Leiter went six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out seven and walking one.

Oakland took its first lead in the sixth, 4-3, on Gates’ sacrifice fly and Scott Brosius’ run-scoring double.

Roberto Alomar hit his fifth homer with a man aboard in the bottom of the inning to put the Jays back in front 5-4, setting up the late rally.

The Blue Jays took the lead in the second on Ed Sprague’s fifth home run, but Javier’s RBI fielder’s choice tied it in the third.

Paul Molitor’s run-scoring double put the Jays back on top in the bottom of the inning, but Steinbach’s RBI double re-tied it in the fourth.

John Olerud’s RBI double put the Blue Jays ahead again in the fifth.

“It was great for us to win three games in a row,” Rickey Henderson said. “But now we have to continue winning, we have to take it from here.”