Strawberry Hitless In New York Return

American League

Jack McDowell stole the show from Darryl Strawberry.

McDowell pitched a three-hitter, winning a duel against Mike Mussina as the Yankees beat Baltimore 3-0 Monday in Strawberry’s return to New York.

“The notoriety (of Strawberry’s return) certainly didn’t detract from the game. That was a real major-league ballgame out there,” Yankees manager Buck Showalter said.

McDowell (9-8) retired 10 in a row at one point and allowed only one runner to reach second base.

Strawberry, returning to the city where he played eight seasons for the Mets, went 0 for 3 but received a 20-second ovation when he came to bat for the first time.

Red Sox 5, Jays 4 (10)

Toronto

Mike Macfarlane’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning gave Boston a four-game sweep of Toronto.

Tim Crabtree (0-2) started the inning by hitting Jose Canseco with an 0-2 pitch.

Angels 9, Rangers 2

Anaheim, Calif.

J.T. Snow, Tony Phillips, Tim Salmon and Jim Edmonds all homered as California beat Texas and widened its A.L. West lead over the Rangers to 11 games.

Snow opened the scoring with a three-run homer, his 15th of the season and first in 75 at-bats since July 17.

Twins 9, Athletics 6

Minneapolis

Minnesota wasted a four-run lead before rallying with a four-run eighth inning, capped by Kirby Puckett’s two-run single, to defeat Oakland.

Twins rookie Marty Cordova led off the eighth with his 16th homer off reliever Carlos Reyes (1-3) to tie the score at 6-6.

Clearing the bases

Boston first baseman Mo Vaughn, who went 13 for 27 with 12 RBIs in six games last week, was named the American League’s player of the week… . Milwaukee extended general manager Sal Bando’s contract through the 1998 season… . Baltimore outfielder Bobby Bonilla went 0-for-3 in his first game in New York since being traded by the Mets.