American League Roundup : Phil Bradley’s Bat Lifts the Mariners to Their Sixth Victory

Look who has the best record in baseball. It’s the Seattle Mariners at 6-0. The Mariners defeated the Minnesota Twins, 5-1, Sunday at Seattle as Mike Moore and Edwin Nunez combined for a seven-hitter.

The hitting star for the second straight game was Phil Bradley. Saturday night, he hit a grand-slam home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth as the Mariners beat the Twins, 8-7.

Sunday, Bradley hit a bases-loaded triple in a five-run seventh inning.

Bradley, 26, is a former college quarterback at Missouri. He is in his second year with the Mariners. Last season, he hit .301 while playing in 124 games.

The Mariners’ 6-0 start is the best in their history.

“I think we’re opening some people’s eyes,” Bradley said.

Moore (2-0) and Minnesota’s Frank Viola (1-1) matched shutouts through six innings. Al Cowens started the seventh inning for Seattle with a double, his third hit, and Jim Presley was walked intentionally. Spike Owen drove in the first run with a pop-fly single.

Harold Reynolds walked to load the bases and Rick Lysander relieved Viola. Bradley then lined an 0-2 pitch to right-center to clear the bases. Bradley scored on a single by Alvin Davis.

Detroit 5, Kansas City 1--The Tigers are off to a pretty good start, too. They’re 5-0 after sweeping the Royals at Kansas City to take over sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division.

A fast start is a confidence builder for most teams, but Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson said: “We already have confidence. We are the world champions. We have that (confidence). I heard all the preseason talk about how all the other teams were better. Toronto was supposed to be a lock. We’ll just try to mind our own business and stay in the league.”

Detroit has now won 11 straight at Royals Stadium, including all six regular-season games last season plus two in the playoffs.

Dan Petry (2-0) shut out the Royals on three hits for eight innings before Willie Hernandez came on with the bases loaded and no one out in the ninth. Hernandez yielded a sacrifice fly to pinch-hitter Hal McRae before getting his second save.

Lance Parrish provided most of Detroit’s offense, driving in four runs, three with his first homer of the season.

Chicago 11, Boston 6--Carlton Fisk, playing his first game of the season, hit a three-run homer to help the White Sox beat his former team at Boston. Fisk missed the White Sox’s first three games with a hip injury.

“This was my first day facing live pitching in 10 days,” Fisk said.

Chicago Manager Tony LaRussa wanted to play Fisk in Fenway Park, a place Fisk knows pretty well. He played for the Red Sox for 10 seasons and, since signing with the White Sox as a free agent in 1981, he’s played well at Fenway.

“He has terrific numbers in this park,” said LaRussa of his 37-year-old catcher.

The loss was the Red Sox’s first of the season. Five Red Sox pitchers gave up 15 hits.

Milwaukee 8, Texas 1--A year ago, the Brewers started off 0-5 and ended up in last place in the East--36 1/2 games behind Detroit. But the Brewers are now 4-1 after sweeping at Arlington, Tex.

Paul Householder’s three-run homer led a 15-hit attack as the Rangers dropped to 0-5.

Moose Haas (1-1) pitched a six-hitter in going the distance for Milwaukee. The only run he allowed came in the eighth on Toby Harrah’s first home run of the season.

Timely hitting has been the key for Milwaukee, which entered the game hitting .319 with men on base. The Brewers have scored 21 runs in their five games, and they had 37 hits in their three-game sweep of the Rangers.

New York 2, Cleveland 1--Phil Niekro allowed only five hits while striking out nine and walking one in 7 innings as the Yankees won at Cleveland. It was the 46-year-old right-hander’s 285th victory of his 22-season major league career. He is now tied with Tony Mullane for 19th place on the all-time victory list.

Niekro left with the bases empty and two out in the bottom of the eighth after Julio Franco’s fly ball was caught near the left-field fence. Dave Righetti came on, allowed one hit, walked one and struck out three for his second save as the Yankees won their second game in a row after losing their first three. The Indians are 0-5.

The Yankees scored both their runs in the eighth inning. Bobby Meacham singled Henry Cotto home and then Willie Randolph scored when Don Mattingly hit into a double play.

Toronto 5, Baltimore 3--Former Angel Rance Mulliniks hit a two-run homer, two doubles and a single as the Blue Jays won at Baltimore to snap the Orioles’ four-game win streak.

Mulliniks, from Tulare, Calif., doubled in one run, scored another in a three-run fifth inning off Mike Boddicker (1-1), and greeted relief pitcher Sammy Stewart with a line-drive home run into the right-field bleachers in the seventh inning.

Doyle Alexander (1-0) allowed only three hits over 6 innings, including home runs to Eddie Murray and Wayne Gross. Relief pitcher Jim Acker earned his second save with one-hit pitching over the last 2 innings.