Appier Shuts Out Oakland

Beating Oakland was no real problem for Kevin Appier on Wednesday night.

“The way he pitched, he would have beaten the ’27 Yankees,” Athletics’ Manager Art Howe said after Appier had shut his club out, 7-0, in Kansas City.

“He had great stuff tonight. We weren’t going to get too much.”

The A’s haven’t gotten too much lately. They have been shut out three times in their last 13 games, scoring only 33 runs in that span.

Appier (10-7) pitched a two-hitter and extended his scoreless streak to 24 innings, winning his fifth decision in a row and pitching his first shutout of the season.

Craig Paquette hit a two-run triple for the Royals, who scored four unearned runs in the first inning. He then stole home, becoming the eighth Kansas City player to do so this season.

Paquette added a solo homer, his 16th, in the eighth.

Cleveland 5, Seattle 4--Jose Vizcaino doubled in the tying run, then scored the winning run on Joey Cora’s throwing error to cap a three-run Indian ninth inning in their victory in Seattle.

Omar Vizquel had led off the inning with a home run off Norm Charlton to bring Cleveland to within 4-3, and Kenny Lofton singled with two outs. Vizcaino doubled home Lofton, then scored on a slow hopper that Cora tried to catch barehanded and throw in the same motion, the throw bouncing in the dirt.

Chicago 8, New York 4--Harold Baines’ one-out RBI single in the top of the 10th ignited a five-run inning that gave the White Sox a win in New York.

The single by Baines scored Tony Phillips, who had opened the inning with an infield single and continued to second on an error and to third on Ray Durham’s fly to right. After Lyle Mouton was walked by loser Jeff Nelson (4-3), Baines greeted Dale Polley with a single to center.

Baltimore 12, Milwaukee 2--Jeffrey Hammonds and Roberto Alomar hit successive home runs to lead Scott Erickson and the Orioles to a win in Milwaukee.

Rafael Palmeiro added a solo homer for the Orioles. Erickson (6-10) won for the first time in seven starts since July 2.

Boston 8, Toronto 0--Tom Gordon (9-5) pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout in almost six years and rookie Tony Rodriguez hit his first major league home run for the Red Sox in Boston.

The Red Sox extended their winning streak to four games by beating Pat Hentgen (13-7), who had won his last six starts. He was 3-0 with an 0.74 earned-run average in his previous three starts.

Detroit 4, Texas 2--Travis Fryman and Bobby Higginson hit first-inning home runs for the Tigers, who won in Detroit and handed Roger Pavlik his fourth defeat in a row.

Pavlik (12-6) is 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA in his last four starts. He struck out 10, but gave up four runs on eight hits in 7 1/3 innings. He has not won since July 13 and this is the first time he has lost four games in a row.