Strawberry’s Return No Help for Yankees

It wasn’t the St. Paul Saints or even the Columbus Clippers. Darryl Strawberry was back in the big leagues Sunday.

Ben McDonald was waiting for him.

McDonald (9-3) won his fifth consecutive decision, taking a shutout into the ninth inning in New York, where Milwaukee overcame a batting-order snafu and beat the Yankees, 4-1.

Strawberry was greeted by a 25-second standing ovation when he made his first appearance as New York’s designated hitter. He lined to right field, grounded to second base, grounded to first and flied to the warning track in right in the ninth inning in his first game since being brought up from triple-A Columbus.

He almost seemed to forget he was in New York.

“I felt warm inside today,” Strawberry said. “Here, the people are very understanding and very forgiving. You don’t find that everywhere.”

The ninth-inning at-bat “gave us a little bit of a thrill there for a split-second,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said.

McDonald scattered seven hits in eight-plus innings and struck out three.

The Brewers had trouble with the batting order in the second inning when Matt Mieske singled John Jaha to third.

The order turned in to the umpires had Jose Valentin batting No. 7, instead of Mieske, and after Torre appealed, Mieske was called out.

Texas 8, Seattle 3--Ken Hill pitched his fourth complete game of the season and struck out five batters in a lineup that leads the AL in runs, total bases and slugging percentage. Warren Newson hit a two-run homer for the Rangers, who salvaged the finale of a four-game series at Arlington, Texas.

Japanese-born pitcher Mac Suzuki gave up three runs and two hits in 1 1/3 innings in his major-league debut for the Mariners. Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player to play in the American League and the third in major league history.

Kansas City 8, Minnesota 2--Tom Goodwin drove in four runs and Tim Belcher (7-4) won his first game in more than a month for the Royals, who won in Minneapolis.

Cleveland 6, Chicago 1--Omar Vizquel had four hits and scored four runs and Chad Ogea (4-1) gave up five hits and struck out six in 6 2/3 innings to stop the Indians’ slide and give them a two-game lead in the Central going into the All-Star break.

Cleveland salvaged the last game of a four-game series the day after a players-only meeting, led by Eddie Murray and Orel Hershiser, reminded the Indians that they had not been swept in four games at home by the White Sox in 33 years.

Detroit 9, Toronto 0--Cecil Fielder ended an 0-for-22 slump with a first-inning grand slam and Felipe Lira (6-7) pitched a six-hitter for the Tigers, who turned around Toronto after losing, 15-0, on Saturday.

It was Fielder’s 19th homer of the season, but only his fourth in hitter-friendly Tiger Stadium.

Boston 7, Baltimore 5--Mo Vaughn hit a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, his second home run of the game for the Red Sox, who won in Baltimore.