American League Roundup : Kingman Bunt Helps A’s Win, 3-0

After seeing his team lose its first two games on mishandled throws, poorly handled cutoff plays and a balk, Oakland Manager Jackie Moore watched with pleasure Thursday as Moose Haas pitched seven strong innings, rookie Jose Canseco hit a two-run homer and Dave Kingman delivered a crucial hit to lead the A’s to a 3-0 win over the Minnesota Twins at Oakland.

“It was a good win,” Moore said. “Just what we needed.”

With the A’s leading, 1-0, in the seventh, Carney Lansford doubled into the left-field corner. Canseco then hit a fly ball that barely cleared the wall in left center, 390 feet from home plate.

For Canseco, who created excitement in spring training this year with longball displays during batting practice, it was his first homer of the season.

“It’s good to get it out of the way,” he said. “I might have been trying to hit the ball too hard lately. I found out the game isn’t as easy as batting practice.”

The A’s scratched out their first run with the help of Kingman’s bunt single in the fourth inning. Kingman surprised the Twins with a perfect bunt toward third base and beat catcher Mark Salas’ throw to first.

Dwayne Murphy, who led off with a single, went to second on the hit, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when a grounder by Lansford went through third baseman Gary Gaetti for an error.

“Dave Kingman is never instructed to bunt,” Moore said emphatically. “But he turned the game around. That one run turned out to be the one we were looking for.”

Boston 4, Detroit 2--Doubles by Ed Romero and Bill Buckner and Jim Rice’s two-run single keyed a four-run fifth inning as the Red Sox upended the Tigers at Detroit behind Al Nipper’s four-hit pitching.

Nipper struck out six and walked five in 8 innings, and Joe Sambito got the final out to salvage the final game of Boston’s season-opening three-game series.

With two out in the fifth, Romero doubled off Dan Petry and scored on a single by Dwight Evans to tie the game, 1-1. Petry walked Wade Boggs, then Buckner doubled Evans home, and Rice singled to drive in Boggs and Buckner.

Milwaukee 8, Chicago 5--Ernest Riles hit an opposite-field home run to climax a four-run, ninth-inning comeback as the Brewers completed a three-game, season-opening series sweep of the White Sox at Chicago.

With one out in the ninth, Mike Felder singled off Bob James, Chicago’s fourth pitcher, and Robin Yount followed with his third hit of the game. James struck out Paul Molitor, but Brewer rookie Billy Joe Robidoux tied it at 5-5 with a single, and Riles hit his second homer of the season, into the left-field seats.

Baltimore 5, Cleveland 1--Fred Lynn drilled a three-run homer in the seventh inning, and Rick Dempsey added a pair of solo home runs to power the Orioles past the Indians at Baltimore.

Ken Dixon scattered six hits and struck out five over seven innings for the victory. Rich Bordi pitched the final two innings to earn the save. Jim Kern was the loser.

Toronto 11, Texas 10--Willie Upshaw and George Bell hit consecutive two-out home runs in the eighth inning to lift the Blue Jays past the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

Texas reliever Greg Harris was the victim of the rally, which began when Garth Iorg singled with two out. Upshaw then homered to tie the score and Bell hit the game-winner over the wall at the 380-foot mark in left field.

Tom Henke pitched the last two innings for Toronto, and the official scorer credited him with the victory rather than a save.