Ben McDonald knew exactly what he wanted to do with the Toronto Blue Jays. Instead, they did it to him.
"The one (Darnell) Coles hit was a slider I left out over the plate," the Baltimore Orioles' pitcher said after a 10-8 loss to Toronto on Thursday night. "(Pat) Borders' was a belly-high fastball. I was trying to pitch (Joe) Carter high, but I didn't get it high enough."It was four bad pitches."
Actually, only three. McDonald forgot to mention Ed Sprague's homer, the other of four hit by the Blue Jays.
"But I do know that the homers come when I fall behind in the count. You make a bad pitch then and you don't get away with it. Really, you're lucky if it stays in the park."
While the Blue Jays preferred to call their barrage good hitting, Carter - who collected his eighth of the season and 250th career home run with a two-run shot for a 5-4 lead in the fourth - said being down by three runs after one inning doesn't faze his club.
"We know we've got the offense to bring us back from almost any deficit," he said.
Coles also had a two-run homer, and Sprague a tie-breaking solo shot for Toronto.
The homers accounted for all of Toronto's six runs against McDonald (2-3).
Athletics 6, Red Sox 3
Oakland's Mark McGwire homered twice at Fenway Park, including his first ever off Roger Clemens.
McGwire, who had been 1 for 29 in his career against Clemens, hit his sixth homer for Oakland's first run. Clemens (4-2) fell to 5-10 in 20 starts against the Athletics, the only team against whom he has a losing record.
Angels 3, Yankees 1
Chili Davis hit a tie-breaking two-run homer off Steve Howe in the eighth inning as California and former Yankee Scott Sanderson beat New York for the second time after entering the series with five straight losses.
Mariners 9, Indians 5
Pete O'Brien ended an 0-for-16 slide with a single and one of four home runs as Seattle ended Cleveland's five-game winning streak.
Jay Buhner, Ken Griffey Jr. - who had three of the visiting Mariners' 16 hits - and Tino Martinez also homered for Seattle. Alvaro Espinoza and Albert Belle, with his major-league-leading 11th, homered for the Indians.
National League
Reds 5, Astros 4
In Houston, Reggie Sanders hit a two-run homer - the second of the ninth inning off relief ace Doug Jones - and the Cincinnati Reds scored all their runs in their final at-bat to stun the Houston Astros.
Doug Drabek - backed by three homers among Houston's six hits - took a shutout into the ninth, but lost it on a single by Bobby Kelly and a run-scoring double by Jeff Branson. Jones (1-1) came on and got an out before allowing Kevin Mitchell's third homer and a double by Chris Sabo.
Randy Milligan flied out before Sanders hit his fourth homer, a drive into the stands in left field.
Braves 13, Rockies 3
In Denver, David Justice and Ron Gant homered and drove in four runs apiece, helping John Smoltz and Atlanta.
The Braves scored at least one run in each of the first four innings off Colorado's David Nied, a former Atlanta prospect who was the top pick in the expansion draft. The Braves led 5-1 before Nied (3-3) finally emerged unscathed in the fifth.