Game 2
Wednesday, October 4, 1989, at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 5 1
Oakland 0 0 0 2 0 3 1 0 X 6 9 1
WP: Mike Moore (1–0) LP: Todd Stottlemyre (0–1) Sv: Dennis Eckersley (1)
Home runs:
TOR: None
OAK: Dave Parker (1)
Game 2 saw the A's throw their number two starter, Mike Moore, against the Blue Jays' Todd Stottlemyre. All was quiet until the top of the third when the Blue Jays' Lloyd Moseby scored after singling, moving to second on a single and third on an error and coming home on a fielder's choice ground out to make it 1–0. The A's captured the lead in the bottom of the fourth with the 'Rickey Rally,' a familiar run-scoring method of bygone years. Rickey Henderson singled, stole second and then third, and came home on Carney Lansford's single to tie the game. Lansford then scored on Mark McGwire's double to give the A's a 2–1 lead. The game stayed close until the sixth.
In the bottom of the sixth, Dave Parker led off with a home run. After McGwire singled, Cito Gaston pulled Stottlemyre in favor of Jim Acker. Acker then gave up a double to Dave Henderson and a single to Tony Phillips that scored two more runs and made it a 5–1 Oakland lead. Gaston pulled Acker and replaced him with David Wells, who got the final two outs of the inning, but the game was for all intents and purposes over.
Another 'Rickey Rally' ensued in the seventh when Henderson walked, stole second, stole third, and scored on an error by Fred McGriff. In doing this, Henderson became the first player ever to steal four bases in a postseason game. The steal of third elicited a reaction from Blue Jays third baseman Kelly Gruber when Henderson walked the last several steps to the base because the catcher didn't throw. Gruber accused Henderson of showing up the Blue Jays in the post-game interview. Henderson's run made it 6–1 Oakland.
The Blue Jays put together a mini-rally in the eighth when they loaded the bases against Rick Honeycutt with nobody out and A.L. home run champion Fred McGriff at the plate. The A's countered by bringing in Dennis Eckersley, who minimized the damage by yielding a one-run single to McGriff and then giving up another run on a double play. Eckersley retired the Jays in order in the ninth, and the A's won 6–3 to go up two games to none in the series. Moore was the winning pitcher, Stottlemyre the loser, and Eckersley got his fifth save in his last five chances in the ALCS dating back to 1988.