Kansas City`s Bo Jackson, who could become baseball`s first ”50-50”
man-50 home runs and 50 stolen bases-led the American League to a 5-3 victory over the National League Tuesday night in the 60th All-Star Game.
Batting in the leadoff spot, Jackson hit an enormous home run in his first All-Star at-bat, a 448-foot drive that cleared the center-field fence.
Next time up, in the second inning, Jackson reached on a fielder`s choice and stole second. It was the first time since Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays did it in 1960 that a player had homered and stolen a base in the same All-Star Game.
For his good work before 64,036 fans, Jackson was named the game`s most valuable player.
Both starting pitchers, Dave Stewart of the AL and Rick Reuschel of the NL, were lifted after the first inning. Each gave up three hits and two runs. Jackson connected on Reuschel`s second pitch, crushing a high, towering drive that landed on a black canvas stretched across the first 20 rows of the center-field seats to provide a good background for the hitters.
Boston`s Wade Boggs, next up, followed with another home run, this one to left-center. It was the fourth time in All-Star history that consecutive home runs were hit but the first time they came in the first two at-bats.
Reuschel later insisted that Jackson had hit a ”good” pitch. ”He just went down and got it,” Reuschel said. ”I`d heard about his power and strength, and I saw it firsthand tonight. You have to give him credit.”
As for the Boggs home run, Reuschel conceded he was just ”trying to throw a strike and put the ball in play.”
Reuschel, who was making his first start in three All-Star appearances, got out of the inning without further cost but lost the 2-0 lead his teammates gave him at Stewart`s expense in the top half of the inning. The NL rally included three hits, all singles, two walks and a double steal.
Ozzie Smith led with a single but was cut down trying to steal on the first pitch to Tony Gwynn. Gwynn walked, went to second on an infield out and scored on Kevin Mitchell`s soft single to center. Expecting a fastball, Mitchell held up his swing, but he was still able to make contact.
”I had him fooled,” Stewart said later. ”He got out in front of it. But he`s such a strong guy he got enough of it to put it into play.”
Stewart`s control problem continued. He walked Eric Davis, then was tagged for another run-scoring single by Howard Johnson, Mitchell scoring. Johnson and Davis then worked a double steal. This put two runners in scoring position for Pedro Guerrero, the Nationals` DH. Again Bo Jackson used his speed to advantage with a nice running catch on Guerrero`s drive in left-center for the third out.
Nolan Ryan, the Rangers` 42-year-old fireballer and baseball`s all-time strikeout king, came on for the AL to start the second inning and and held the NL scoreless through the third. Ryan wound up with the victory when the AL went ahead 3-2 with a second-inning run off Atlanta`s John Smoltz, who was Reuschel`s relief.
Ryan set the tone for his team`s pitchers the rest of the way. He finished his stint having allowed one hit, a grounder by Gwynn, no walks and striking out three-including the Giants` dangerous Will Clark and Mitchell consecutively in the third.
”Out of all the All-Star Games I`ve been in, this one means the most,”
Ryan said. ”Both because of coming back to Anaheim, all the games I pitched here (as an Angel), the memories and the fact that this could be my last All- Star Game.”
Ruben Sierra and Terry Steinbach solved Smoltz in the second for singles, Sierra taking third on Steinbach`s hit. Jackson then turned on the speed. He bounced to Smith at short, a potential double-play ball, but beat Cub Ryne Sandberg`s throw to first base, Sierra scoring. It was Jackson`s second RBI. He then stole second and continued to third when catcher Benito Santiago`s throw sailed into center field. Smoltz got Boggs on a popup to end the rally. The AL added two runs in the third to increase its lead to 5-2. The Cubs` Rick Sutcliffe, a late addition to the NL staff, was the victim of this burst and had to face seven batters before he retired the side. He gave up four hits, all singles, the White Sox`s Harold Baines and Texas` Sierra driving in the runs. Baines` single was solid, a hard shot to right.
Neither team scored in the fourth or fifth. Both managers, Tom Lasorda of the NL and Tony LaRussa of the AL, continued changing pitchers. After Sutcliffe worked one inning, Montreal`s Tim Burke came on for the NL and pitched two scoreless rounds before giving way to San Diego`s Mark Davis.
LaRussa followed a similar pattern. He summoned Kansas City`s Mike Gubicza for the fourth, his own Mike Moore for the fifth and then opened the sixth with left-hander Greg Swindell, the Cleveland star.
Jackson got his second hit of the game in the fourth, a single off Burke, and he went on to steal third base. Jackson had one more at-bat, in the sixth, when Mark Davis struck him out on three pitches. He was taken out of the game in the seventh and replaced in left field by Boston`s Mike Greenwell.
Swindell was the 10th pitcher in the game and the first withdrawn in the middle of an inning. With a runner on first and two outs and the right-handed- hitting Tony Pena at the plate, LaRussa took no chances and summoned Jeff Russell of the Texas Rangers. Russell, who had the righty-righty advantage, retired Pena on an infield tap.
Jay Howell of the Dodgers came out for the AL seventh and got two quick outs before giving up a harmless double to Don Mattingly of the Yankees. It was noteworthy only because it was Mattingly`s first hit in nine All-Star at- bats.
The NL mounted a considerably stronger threat in the eighth, and again LaRussa went to his bullpen for a midinning change. A two-out walk to Glenn Davis and Mitchell`s single kayoed Russell.
Milwaukee`s Dan Plesac relieved Russell, gave up a run-scoring single to Von Hayes that cut the NL deficit to 5-3 and was replaced by Cleveland`s Doug Jones, who got the third out when Tim Wallach lined to Greenwell.
That was the NL`s last whimper as the AL posted its first back-to-back victories since 1958 and picked up its third victory in four years after losing 21 of the previous 23.
”People are going to feel like the balance of power has shifted back to the American League,” said the Padres` Gwynn, ”and maybe it has. But we`ll be back, and I`m sure that`s exactly what they said when we (the NL) were winning all those games.”
