AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : A’s Rally Denies White Sox First Place, 5-4

The surprising Chicago White Sox were all set to take over first place in the American League West Friday night to the delight of 40,417 fans at Comiskey Park.

The White Sox, boasting the most effective bullpen in the league, had built a 4-1 lead through seven innings. Furthermore, the Athletics were without slugging Jose Canseco, and Mark McGwire, though playing, wasn’t swinging with authority because of a chest injury.

Left-hander Greg Hibbard had given up only four hits and appeared to have the slumping World Series champions at his mercy.

There was no cause for concern even when Mike Gallego and Walt Weiss opened the eighth inning with singles. In came Barry Jones, who was 7-0.

But Dave Henderson, who homered earlier, doubled in two runs and Terry Steinbach singled in two more and suddenly, the Athletics had a 5-4 victory and a two-game lead.

The uprising made a 10-game winner out of Bob Welch, who had one of his poorest outings. Welch (10-2) won his seventh in a row, though he barely survived the first three innings.

Welch issued five walks in the first three innings, fell behind, 3-1, and never did look the part of a winner.

The White Sox scored one run while hitting into a double play, another on a wild pitch and the third on a passed ball. They scored another run in the seventh when Ivan Calderon singled, Dan Pasqua walked and Carlton Fisk singled to make it 4-1.

If the White Sox had won their second in a row from the Athletics, they would have led by five percentage points.

Before Dennis Eckersley got the final out for his 21st save in 22 opportunities, Gene Nelson and Rick Honeycutt followed Welch to the hill. Eckersley gave up a bunt single to Calderon before getting Pasqua on a grounder to end the game.

Until the winning rally, the Athletics had been unable to capitalize on their chances. They left 10 runners stranded in the first six innings of Thursday’s 3-2 defeat.

They had runners on second and third with one out in the second, but two brilliant plays by Chicago third baseman Robin Ventura prevented any runs from scoring.

Toronto 5, New York 4--The Blue Jays, leading the East, decided to give third baseman Kelly Gruber a night off at New York.

But with the bases loaded, two out in the eighth inning and the Yankees leading, 3-1, Manager Cito Gaston summoned Gruber to pinch-hit.

Gruber tripled to left-center to put the Blue Jays in front and enable them to stay 1 1/2 games ahead of Boston.

The victory went to David Wells (5-1), though he appeared to be on his way to a defeat. Tom Henke gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth, but still earned his 10th save.

Boston 4, Baltimore 3--Without Wade Boggs and Marty Barrett, the Red Sox have to scratch for runs.

In this game at Baltimore, it was Danny Heep who came through. Heep, batting .178, hit a two-run double in the second inning to give the Red Sox the lead.

Wes Gardner, who can’t beat anyone else, is a perfect 5-0 against the Orioles. Gardner (1-3) gave up two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings to win. He also lowered his earned-run average from 7.79 to 6.65.

“Maybe I should only pitch against the Orioles,” said Gardner, whose lifetime record is 16-22.

Pete Harnisch (6-3) faced 15 batters and threw 60 pitches before leaving after 1 2/3 innings.

Cleveland 5, Milwaukee 3--A promotion-night crowd of 63,546 at Cleveland----largest in the majors this season----cheered Tom Candiotti (7-3) to his second win in a row.

An oil company promotion, in which free tickets were given for fillups, accounted for the big crowd.

Candiotti gave up seven hits before Doug Jones took over with one out in the ninth. Jones retired the last two Brewers for his 21st save in 23 opportunities.

Jerry Browne and Candy Maldonado hit run-scoring doubles in the first inning to spoil the Milwaukee debut of former Dodger Dennis Powell.

Kansas City 5, Minnesota 1--The only team playing worse than the Royals these days is the Twins. Kansas City took advantage of Minnesota’s slump to win its second in a row at home.

Danny Tartabull hit a three-run home run and Kevin Appier held the Twins, who lost their eighth in a row, to five hits in eight innings.

Bo Jackson doubled home a run in the fourth when the Royals jumped to a 2-0 lead against rookie Tim Drummond (0-2).

Tartabull’s home run in the fifth was a 410-foot blast and was his third in the last eight games.

Texas 4, Seattle 3--Manager Bobby Valentine had run out of relief pitchers, so he told Kevin Brown he had to go the distance at Seattle.

Brown (8-4) managed to go all the way, but just barely. He gave up seven hits and the Mariners scored a run in the ninth and had the potential tying run on second when center fielder Gary Pettis made the final putout.

Pete Incaviglia drove in two runs for the Rangers.

Brown cooled off hot-hitting Ken Griffey Jr., who went 0 for four and dropped below .333 for the first time this season.