AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Difficult Finale for Mattingly

Don Mattingly may have played his last home game for the New York Yankees on Sunday. He would have preferred a better ending.

Mattingly stranded five runners in two of his first three at-bats, and the Yankees gave up seven runs in the eighth inning to lose, 8-3, to the Detroit Tigers.

Mattingly’s 14-year tenure with New York may not continue into 1996. His contract expires after this season, and Mattingly has said he doesn’t expect the team to re-sign him.

One of the reasons he may not be back is his lack of run production and clutch hitting this year. That was evident in the first inning when he flied out to leave the bases loaded, and again in the fifth when he left runners at first and second.

Mattingly is batting .236 with runners in scoring position and .284 overall with six homers and 47 runs batted in. He received a standing ovation Sunday each time he came to bat.

“It felt good, but I’ll still trade it for that first-inning at-bat,” Mattingly said of the fans’ cheers.

Mattingly also brought out the lineup card in place of Manager Buck Showalter.

“He told me it was an order. He’s never ordered me to do anything since he’s been here. I’m glad I did it, really,” Mattingly said.

In the eighth, Andy Pettitte (11-9) was relieved after giving up three consecutive singles, and Travis Fryman hit reliever Bob Wickman’s first pitch for a two-run single that tied the score, 3-3.

One out later, Steve Howe relieved Wickman and gave up a two-run double to pinch-hitter Alan Trammell. Tony Clark then hit his third homer, a two-run shot, to put the Tigers in front, 7-3, and Danny Bautista followed with his seventh homer on the next pitch.

Kansas City 4, Cleveland 2--Kevin Appier and Jeff Montgomery combined on a five-hitter and Johnny Damon collected two hits and two RBIs for the Royals at Kansas City.

Appier (15-9), who was 11-2 after his first 14 starts, had five strikeouts and four walks in 7 2/3 innings as the Royals ended a six-game losing streak.

Kansas City was one out away from handing the Indians their fourth shutout of the year, but Brian Giles hit his first major-league homer, a two-run shot off Montgomery.

Minnesota 4, Chicago 3--Matt Merullo’s bases-loaded single with two outs in the ninth gave the Twins the victory at Minneapolis.

In the bottom of the ninth, Chuck Knoblauch walked with one out, took second on a wild pitch by Bill Simas (1-1) and stole third before Denny Hocking and Kirby Puckett were walked intentionally to load the bases.

Matt Karchner came on and struck out Marty Cordova before Merullo singled sharply between third and short.

Milwaukee 5, Baltimore 1--Knuckleballer Steve Sparks limited Baltimore to three hits over 7 1/3 innings at Milwaukee.

The Brewers got four doubles and four runs in the second inning, chasing left-hander Rick Krivda (2-7). Krivda threw 37 pitches in 1 2/3 innings and fell to 0-5 with a 7.10 earned-run average in September.

Toronto 2, Boston 1--Pinch-hitter Carlos Delgado’s sacrifice fly off Rick Aguilera in the ninth inning was the difference at Boston.