AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Strawberry’s Return a Winner for Yankees

The Darryl Strawberry era began with a one-for-four effort and a victory.

Strawberry’s much-anticipated debut with the New York Yankees finally came Friday night in a 4-1 victory over the Tigers at Detroit that kept them 4 1/2 games behind Boston. He singled between first and second in his first at-bat, then flied out, popped out and struck out while batting sixth as the designated hitter.

Mike Stanley and Ruben Sierra homered while Scott Kamieniecki (3-2) and two relievers combined for a three-hitter that gave the Yankees their fifth victory in six games and 13th in their last 16.

Strawberry, who talked before the game, did not speak afterward.

“I just want to take full advantage of the opportunity and play baseball and not be a distraction to the New York Yankees,” he said beforehand.

“It’s a great opportunity for myself being able to be back in the big leagues,” Strawberry said. “It’s been a very difficult ride, but I’m very grateful Mr. Steinberg has given me the opportunity.”

Actually, he meant Steinbrenner, as in owner George Steinbrenner, who attended the game.

Cleveland 13, Chicago 3--Manny Ramirez hit the first grand slam of his career and the Indians’ second in three games as Paul Sorrento also homered in a rout at Cleveland.

Eddie Murray had two RBIs and three hits--moving past Al Kaline into 17th place with 3,009 hits--and Jim Thome drove in three runs for the Indians.

Ramirez matched his career high with five RBIs.

Charles Nagy (10-4) won his career-best sixth consecutive decision, giving up three runs and 10 hits in seven innings. He is unbeaten in eight starts since June 23.

Jason Bere (5-10) couldn’t make it through the third inning for the second consecutive start. The game got so lopsided that acting Chicago Manager Joe Nossek brought in outfielder Dave Martinez to pitch the eighth inning.

Milwaukee 12, Baltimore 4--Dave Nilsson’s grand slam highlighted an eight-run fourth inning that carried the Brewers past the slumping Orioles at Baltimore.

John Jaha went four for four with a homer and Greg Vaughn and Jeff Cirillo also homered for the Brewers, who won for only the second time in eight games.

Rookie Scott Karl (2-2) earned his second major league victory.

Baltimore starter Scott Erickson (7-8) took the loss in his shortest stint since joining the Orioles on July 7.

Boston 7, Toronto 1--The Red Sox scored two runs in the eighth inning against three rookie relievers, then added four more in the ninth for a victory at Toronto.

The late rally ended a 1-1 tie after seven innings. John Valentin and Mo Vaughn began the eighth with walks off Jimmy Rogers (0-1), Tim Crabtree then walked Jose Canseco and struck out Mike Greenwell before walking Tim Naehring to force in the go-ahead run.

In the ninth, Greenwell hit a three-run homer, his ninth, and Valentin had an RBI double.

Eric Hanson (9-4) scattered five hits over eight innings for the win.

Kansas City 12, Minnesota 4--Edgar Caceres hit his first major league home run, a three-run shot in the eighth that put the Royals ahead for good, at Minneapolis.

In the ninth, Gary Gaetti hit a three-run homer and Phil Hiatt added a two-run blast as the Royals tied their season-high for runs.

Rusty Meacham (4-2) worked one inning to earn the victory. Jeff Montgomery earned his 19th save. Pat Mahomes was the loser.

Oakland 9, Seattle 8--Rickey Henderson’s bases-loaded infield single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Athletics a victory at Oakland.

Oakland rallied twice and came back again after the Mariners had tied the score in the top of the ninth on a one-out homer by Tino Martinez.

Terry Steinbach led off the ninth with a triple off Bobby Ayala (3-4). After two intentional walks and an out, Henderson hit a grounder to shortstop that glanced off the glove of a diving Alex Rodriguez.

Dennis Eckersley (3-4), who blew the save, got the victory.