Blue Jays Keep Griffey Quiet in Victory

After charting pitches a night earlier and watching Ken Griffey Jr. hit three homers, Toronto’s Woody Williams took more than just writer’s cramp away from the experience.

“I learned something,” said Williams. “Keep the ball away from Griffey.”

Despite giving up a run-scoring double to Griffey in the first inning, Williams kept the Blue Jays close all Saturday. The Blue Jays eventually defeated the Mariners, 4-3, at Toronto when Joe Carter singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning.

Griffey, who led the Mariners to a 13-8 win Friday night, has 30 RBIs this month. He is one shy of Carter’s AL record for April and two short of Barry Bonds’ major league mark.

Williams, who has three no decisions this season, left after giving up three consecutive two-out hits in the seventh, including a run-scoring single by Rich Amaral that tied the score, 3-3.

Carter finished the game with three hits. He drove in two runs and scored once.

Oakland 7, Kansas City 6--Mitch Williams threw a bases-loaded wild pitch with two outs in the 11th inning to cap a four-run rally by the Athletics at Oakland.

The Royals had taken a 6-3 lead in the top of the 11th on Bip Roberts’ RBI double and Jay Bell’s two-run homer.

But the A’s got a two-run homer by Jason Giambi and a solo home run by Matt Stairs, tying the score at 6-6 with one out against Jason Jacome.

Williams relieved and, after getting Brent Mayne to ground out, walked Damon Mashone and gave up an infield single to Rafael Bournigal.

Mark McGwire, who earlier hit his ninth home run, was intentionally walked to load the bases--his fifth walk of the game--to bring up Jose Canseco.

Canseco, who grounded out with the bases loaded to end the 10th, fell behind 0-and-2 in the count. Williams (0-1) then threw a pitch over the head of catcher Mike Sweeney.

New York 10, Chicago 2--Cecil Fielder finally hit his first home run of the season, driving in five runs with the first five-hit game of his career to lead Yankees at New York.

Fielder ended the longest homerless streak of his career at 98 at-bats and also doubled twice. Tino Martinez homered and drove in two runs to set a Yankee record for RBIs in April with 30.

David Cone (2-2) struck out nine in seven innings as the Yankees won for the fourth time in five games.

Milwaukee 9, Cleveland 8--Matt Williams homered twice to match a major league record with five homers in two games, but the Brewers rallied for three runs in the ninth off Jose Mesa to win at Milwaukee.

Jeff Huson’s RBI single off Mesa (0-1) capped Milwaukee’s rally and spoiled Williams’ second consecutive multi-homer game.

Williams, who hit three homers on Friday, hit a solo homer in the sixth inning and a two-run homer in the eighth to break a 6-6 tie.

Williams, who has six homers, became the 20th player in history to hit five homers over two consecutive games.

Texas 6, Minnesota 1--Bobby Witt defeated the Twins for the sixth consecutive time, and the Rangers extended their win streak over Minnesota to four with a victory at Minneapolis.

Witt (4-0) took a two-hit shutout into the sixth, but Rich Becker spoiled it with an inside-the-park home run that center fielder Damon Buford lost in the lights.

Witt gave up seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. He is 17-5 lifetime against Minnesota.

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BESTS OF THE DAY: PITCHING

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Roberto Alomar Baltimore 4 for 4, 6 RBIs, 3 home runs Win Cecil Fielder New York 5 for 5, 5 RBIs, home run, 2 doubles Win Tim Raines New York 4 for 5, 3 runs, 2 doubles, stolen base Win Damon Mashore Oakland 3 for 5, 2 runs, 1 RBI, home run Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result David Cone New York 7 innings, 1 run, 6 hits, 9 strikeouts Win Woody Williams Toronto 7 innings, 5 hits, held Ken Griffey Jr. without HR Win

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