By the time Mark McGwire put the game out of reach with a grand slam, Carney Lansford and Dave Stewart had done enough little things to get the Oakland Athletics a bigger lead in the AL West.
"For whatever reason, we're doing a lot of things right," said Stewart, who pitched four-hit ball for eight innings in a 7-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday. The A's lead the second-place Rangers by three games.Stewart is now 5-5, winning his second straight start on the road back to respect. He outdueled Bobby Witt (7-5), who carried a three-hitter and 1-1 tie into the eighth inning before losing his composure with four walks.
"I'm right on track," Stewart said. "It's just different from past seasons when I'd have nine or 10 wins by now. I only have five wins. I'm going to deal with the fact that I only have five wins."
Witt walked the bases loaded with one out in the eighth. Lansford, who earlier gave the A's their only run with a first-inning homer - his 2,000th career hit - walked on four pitches to force in the go-ahead run. Reliever Terry Mathews forced in another run with a walk to Jose Canseco.
Kenny Rogers, after retiring Willie Wilson on a pop fly, had a low slider hit over the center field fence on a line drive by McGwire, who leads the majors with 23 home runs and 53 RBIs. It was his fifth career grand slam and first by an Oakland player this season.
Lansford's homer was his first of the season. He was able to get the ball, which was his 2,000th hit, from a fan in the left field bleachers.
White Sox 4, Twins 2
At Minneapolis, Jack McDowell, pitching without his trademark control, frustrated Minnesota for 62/3 innings to lead the Chicago White Sox to victory against the Twins, the right-hander's ninth win of the year.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3
At Toronto, Jeff Reardon got his 341st career save, tying Rollie Fingers' all-time record, and the Boston Red Sox held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ellis Burks and Phil Plantier hit consecutive home runs in the second inning off Todd Stottlemyre (5-5) to put Boston ahead 2-0. Mike Greenwell hit a two-run homer in the third for a 4-1 lead.
Yankees 4, Indians 1
At Cleveland, Jim Leyritz hit a three-run home run and Melido Perez lowered his ERA to 2.85 as the New York Yankees ended a four-game losing streak with a triumph over the Cleveland Indians.
Tigers 15, Orioles 1
At Detroit, Rob Deer had two long homers and Mark Leiter ended a string of poor pitching performances by Detroit starters as the Tigers defeated the Baltimore Orioles.
Angels 5, Royals 4
At Anaheim, Calif., Junior Felix capped a four-run sixth-inning rally with his second RBI single of the game, giving the California Angels a victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Brewers 8, Mariners 7
At Seattle, the Brewers used a pair of balks by Eric Gunderson and Paul Molitor's sacrifice fly to score a run in the eighth inning and beat Seattle. The Brewers halted a three-game losing streak and also ended an 11-game losing string in the Kingdome. Their last victory in Seattle came May 29, 1990.