Eckersley Makes History

Jose Canseco drove in four runs and Dennis Eckersley became thefirst pitcher in major-league history to have four 40-save seasonsSunday as the visiting Oakland Athletics whipped the BaltimoreOrioles 7-3.

The victory enabled the A's to maintain their six-game lead overthe Minnesota Twins in the West. The Orioles, meanwhile, lost forthe fifth time in their last seven games and remained three gamesbehind the Toronto Blue Jays in the East.

Winning pitcher Mike Moore (13-10) scattered five hits in 8 2/3innings and Harold Baines homered for the A's, who took two of threein the series and have won 10 of their last 11 games against theOrioles in Baltimore.

Moore struck out four and walked three en route to defeating theOrioles for the third time this season. David Segui's run-scoringsingle in the ninth chased Moore, and Brady Anderson followed with anRBI single off Vince Horsman before Eckersley relieved. He retiredRandy Milligan on a fly to center to reach the 40-save plateau forthe fourth time in the last five seasons.

"I'm not going to make light of it, but I kind of feel sillytalking about it," Eckersley said. "I got lucky and got an out. Youtake what you can get."

The A's are 52-0 in games in which Eckersley pitches.

Losing pitcher Ben McDonald (12-9) hasn't won at home in sixstarts since July 1.

Twins 2, Blue Jays 0: Scott Erickson pitched a four-hitter tooutduel Jimmy Key and help host Minnesota hand Toronto its fourthloss in its last five games.

Erickson (9-10) stopped his three-game losing streak with histhird shutout of the season. His previous two victories also wereshutouts. He gave up singles in the second inning to John Olerud andKelly Gruber, then did not allow another hit until the eighth.

Key (8-11) allowed four hits in seven innings.

Lenny Webster, who starts in place of regular catcher BrianHarper when Erickson pitches, broke a scoreless tie in the fifth with his first home run since last Sept. 9. TheTwins added an insurance run on an RBI double by Chili Davis in thesixth.

Tigers 3, Brewers 2: Rob Deer hit his 25th home run in the fifthinning, then singled home the tie-breaking run in the ninth to liftvisiting Detroit past Milwaukee, which remained 3 1/2 games out inthe East.

Cecil Fielder began the winning rally with a one-out single offlosing pitcher Dan Plesac (4-4). After pinch runner Skeeter Barnesmoved to third when third baseman Kevin Seitzer misplayed MickeyTettleton's grounder, Deer greeted Mike Fetters with a bloop singleto center to tally the go-ahead run. It was Deer's first RBI singleof the season.

Mike Henneman (1-5) pitched two scoreless innings to earn thevictory, which snapped the Tigers' three-game skid.

Rangers 14, Indians 4: Juan Gonzalez set a team record with his33rd and 34th home runs as Texas scored 11 runs in the last twoinnings to break host Cleveland's five-game winning streak.

The Rangers obliterated the Indians' 4-3 lead when Gonzalez andDean Palmer homered off losing pitcher Steve Olin (6-4) during afive-run eighth and Brian Downing added a three-run blast during asix-run ninth.

Gonzalez, who has seven home runs in his last 10 games,surpassed Larry Parrish's 1987 team record of 32 home runs with histhree-run shot off Indians starter Jose Mesa in the third.

Mariners 9, Red Sox 3: Kevin Mitchell had three hits and drovein four runs to help visiting Seattle trounce Boston and stop RogerClemens' five-game winning streak.

Clemens (15-8) lost for the first time since July 24. Heallowed six runs and eight hits in six innings but struck out sevento take over the league lead with 171.

Angels 7, Yankees 3: Luis Sojo's two-run home run sparked afour-run rally in the 10th inning that carried California past hostNew York.