AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Short Spring, Short Opener for Appier

The baseball strike is over, but its effects linger, at least for Kevin Appier and the Kansas City Royals.

With only 11 1/3 innings of spring training, Appier found himself with a no-hitter through 6 2/3 innings on opening day, Wednesday at Kansas City. Then he found himself watching from the bench when it was broken up by Leo Gomez, who singled off reliever Rusty Meacham in the eighth inning of the Royals’ 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

“I hope that something like this gives the fans momentum as far as coming out to the ballpark again,” Appier said. “I would have loved to see it sold out.”

It wasn’t close. Even though Kansas City gave out free tickets, attendance was the smallest for an opening-day crowd there since 1984.

Those on hand booed lustily when rookie Manager Bob Boone lifted Appier after 98 pitches. The only opening-day no-hitter in baseball history was pitched April 16, 1940, by Cleveland’s Bob Feller in a 1-0 victory over Chicago, and the Kansas City fans wanted to see some lore equaled.

No way.

“Obviously, I’d like a chance to finish the game and get a no-hitter,” Appier said. “But to throw that many more pitches is a risk and you really can’t do that. I understand where he’s coming from. That’s the farthest I’ve taken one, but I understand why I was taken out.”

The decision wasn’t difficult, but it wasn’t exactly what Boone was hoping for in his first game.

“It was a piece of cake,” Boone said with a laugh. “You think managing isn’t hard? It takes guts. I was afraid to go out there. I thought Kevin would choke me. But he had gotten a lot of tough outs and had thrown a lot of pitches.”

Sherman Obando got Baltimore’s other hit.

Baltimore starter Mike Mussina was more economical, if less spectacular, pitching five shutout innings and using 49 pitches. Jamie Moyer relieved to start the sixth and gave up a run-scoring single by Wally Joyner and an RBI double by Bob Hamelin.

Cal Ripken Jr., playing in his 2,010th consecutive game, struck out in his first three at-bats.

Toronto 13, Oakland 1--Devon White drove in four runs in a club record-tying 11-run second inning, and Alex Gonzalez also finished with four RBIs for the Blue Jays at Toronto.

White doubled in two runs off Dave Stewart in his first at-bat in the second, then drove in two more with a single off Chris Eddy, who was making his major league debut.

Gonzalez drove in the first and last runs for the Blue Jays. His groundout in the first inning brought home White after his leadoff triple, and his fourth-inning single drove in the 13th run.

Ed Sprague drove in two runs in the inning with a bases-loaded walk and a single.

Joe Carter, John Olerud and Shawn Green also singled home runs in the second inning, in which the Blue Jays sent 16 batters to the plate and tied the club mark for runs in an inning set in Seattle on July 20, 1984.

The key play in the inning was Mike Gallego’s error.

After Olerud led off with a walk and Roberto Alomar singled, Gallego booted Green’s routine grounder to second for what should have been a double play.

David Cone was the beneficiary of the record-tying inning, yielding one run on five hits in six innings.

Stewart, who came into the game with a 5-0 mark in season openers, gave up nine runs, seven earned, on five hits in 1 1/3 innings.

It was like old times for Rickey Henderson, who doubled to right field, stole second and scored on Stan Javier’s fly for Oakland’s only run in the first inning.

Boston 9, Minnesota 0--Jose Canseco, the right fielder Red Sox fans loved to hate when he was with Oakland and Texas, plays in Boston now, and he is a local hero after his two-run single with the bases loaded sent the Red Sox winging at Fenway Park.

Cleanup hitter Mo Vaughn, the second part of Boston’s new one-two power punch, followed with a two-run double during a seven-run sixth inning.

The hitting of Canseco and Vaughn--both went two for four--overshadowed the one-hit pitching of Aaron Sele and the four hits of Mike Greenwell, who was dropped from the heart of the order last season to the sixth spot.

The Twins managed only leadoff singles by Kevin Maas in the fifth inning and Scott Leius in the eighth against five Boston pitchers.

New York 8, Texas 6--It was business as usual at Yankee Stadium, where Joe DiMaggio threw out the first ball and Jimmy Key won his third consecutive opening day start. His lifetime record in openers is 6-0.

Key gave up seven hits in five-plus innings and got help from Danny Tartabull, who homered and drove in three runs; Bernie Williams, who hit a solo homer; and Pat Kelly, who went three for four.

Consecutive hits in the sixth inning by Otis Nixon, Jeff Frye and Will Clark cut New York’s lead to 5-3 and knocked Key out of the game.

After Key left, the Yankees scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Texas scored three times against reliever Bob Wickman in the seventh to make it interesting. John Wetteland pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first American League save.

Milwaukee 12, Chicago 3--John Jaha hit his first grand slam and Pat Listach had three hits and three RBIs for the Brewers at Milwaukee, where the opening day crowd was less than 50,000 for the first time in 17 years.

The loudest cheers went to Robin Yount--who retired last year and served as an honorary coach--60 Little Leaguers who threw out first pitches and the grounds crew for tackling a fan who sprinted across the field in the fourth inning in just a stocking cap and red swimming trunks.

Listach also got some applause.

Coming off knee surgery, he had two singles, a double and a sacrifice in the leadoff spot. The AL Rookie of the Year in 1992 was sidelined most of the last two seasons because of injuries, coinciding with the Brewers’ plunge to consecutive last-place finishes.

Jaha, playing because Dave Nilsson is sidelined for two months with Ross River Fever, hit a two-out, 0-and-2 offering from Alex Fernandez for his first grand slam and a 4-1 lead.

The Brewers added four unearned runs off Fernandez, snapping his 21-inning scoreless streak against them. Fernandez gave up five hits and walked five in 2 2/3 innings.

In the second inning, Fernandez threw the ball away on Listach’s bunt, allowing Jose Valentin to score from first. Listach scored on a double-play grounder.

Listach chased Fernandez in the third with a two-out, two-run single after shortstop Ozzie Guillen’s throwing error. He added an RBI single off Scott Ruffcorn in the fifth.

Angel Miranda gained the victory, yielding one hit in 2 2/3 shutout innings of relief. He struck out three and walked one.

Milwaukee starter Ricky Bones yielded two earned runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out none.