American League Roundup : Gibson Gets the Breaks as Tigers Win, 4-3

Kirk Gibson is a big, strong former football player. He is 6-3 and weighs 210. The right fielder of the Detroit Tigers would appear to be powerful enough to break baseballs.

Lately, though, he has been breaking bats. One of the broken bats produced a bloop double with two out and two on in the fifth inning Tuesday at Cleveland and gave the World Series champions a 4-3 victory over the Indians.

Gibson also had a broken-bat single in the first inning to set up the Tigers’ first run and send luckless Bert Blyleven down to his second defeat of the season. In between, Gibson actually hit the ball hard for a solid single.

Gibson went into this game batting only .239 with two home runs and six runs batted in for a team that had lost four of its previous five games. In 11 games, the Tigers had lost only one less game than they did in their first 40 last season.

“When I broke my bat in the first inning today, it was embarrassing,” Gibson said. “The bat went farther into right field than the ball.

“The second time it happened, I got enough bat on it to lift it over the third baseman. The pitch was way in on me, and I should have taken it. But the way things have been going for us, a bloop is as good as a hard-hit ball when it gets you out of the skid.”

Blyleven (0-2) pitched the complete game, giving up seven hits in addition to Gibson’s two broken-bat hits. He was involved in a 1-1 game when he loaded the bases with two out before Gibson came up in the fifth.

“It was a very tough pitch to hit,” Blyleven said. “But Gibson was stronger than the pitch, and he got those wrists around.”

“The last few days things didn’t go our way, but this time they did,” Gibson said. “Blyleven made a good pitch. He jammed me, but I muscled it over third. What can he do about that?”

Gibson’s broken-bat double enabled Dan Petry to improve his record to 3-1. Petry gave up six hits in 6 innings before Bill Scherrer took over.

Bullpen ace Willie Hernandez came on in the eighth. He gave up a run in the ninth when Julio Franco’s single scored Tony Bernazard with two out. It was the first run given up this season by Hernandez, who picked up his third save of the young season when he struck out Joe Carter.

The run-scoring single was Franco’s second hit in three at-bats and lifted his league-leading batting average to .452.

“That’s nice to be hitting so well,” Franco said, “but we didn’t win. We just have to do better.”

Kansas City 7, Toronto 6--The Blue Jays one weakness last season was their bullpen. With that in mind, they went out and signed one of the best, Bill Caudill.

But even the good relievers have a sour outing occasionally. This game at Toronto was an example of a poor Caudill performance.

Caudill replaced Doyle Alexander in the eighth inning and had a 4-2 lead to protect. He breezed through the eighth, then fell apart in the ninth.

A bases-loaded double by George Brett cleared the bases to put the Royals in front, and Jorge Orta followed with a two-run home run.

With a 7-4 lead, the Royals sent in their premier reliever, Dan Quisenberry. Before Quisenberry could gain his second save, he gave up two runs and the potential tying run was on second. The underhand specialist retired the first two Blue Jays, then started emulating Caudill.

Damaso Garcia doubled, Lloyd Moseby singled and Tony Fernandez doubled to make it a 7-6 game. Quisenberry then struck out George Bell to end the wild night.

Boston 5, New York 4--Dwight Evans singled home Marty Barrett from third in the 11th inning at New York to give the Red Sox the victory.

The Red Sox had given Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, and Boyd held the Yankees scoreless until the sixth when Don Baylor hit a two-run home run. The Yankees had not scored a run in 15 innings before Baylor homered.

Bob Shirley walked in the fourth Boston run in the seventh, but the Yankees came within one again in the seventh and tied it in the eighth. With a chance to break it open, Rickey Henderson, making his debut as a Yankee, hit into an inning-ending double play.

In the top of the 11th, Barrett singled off reliever Dave Righetti (1-1). Jackie Gutierrez sacrificed. Shortstop Bobby Meacham flagged down Wade Boggs’ smash to prevent Barrett from scoring, but Evans came through with a sharp single to left.

Henderson, signed as a free agent for a fabulous price, is one of the fastest men in baseball. However, he had been out of action since March 17 when he jammed his ankle in an exhibition game.

Minnesota 4, Seattle 2--Tom Brunansky hit a two-run home run at Minneapolis and Frank Viola pitched a six-hitter as the road skid of the Mariners continued.

The Mariners, who won their first six games of the season, dropped to 7-7. They have won only once on the road and their pitchers have an earned-run average for the eight road games of nearly 8.00.

Salome Barojas, normally a reliever, started for the Mariners in this one and was the loser.

Baltimore 11, Texas 1--Storm Davis pitched a three-hitter at Arlington, Tex., and Mike Young and Rick Dempsey hammered home runs to make Davis’ first victory an easy one. Davis is 5-0 lifetime against the Rangers.

Davis retired 19 straight batters from the first inning until the seventh.

Chicago 6, Milwaukee 5--Oscar Gamble singled home the winning run off Rollie Fingers in the 10th inning at Chicago to cap a two-run rally.

Ted Simmons singled home a run in the top of the 10th and the White Sox tied it when Harold Baines singled in a run. Gamble then delivered the hit the made a loser of Fingers.