American League Roundup : Hough Pitches a Six-Hitter in Defeating Red Sox, 1-0

Charlie Hough gave up six hits Friday night at Arlington, Tex., and pitched the Texas Rangers to a 1-0 victory over the slumping Boston Red Sox. It was the first shutout for the Rangers since last August.

While the Red Sox were losing for the ninth time in the last 12 games, Hough, the former Dodger knuckleballer, finally gave new Texas Manager Bobby Valentine something to get excited about.

“Charlie was outstanding,” Valentine said. “Not only did he have the hitters off-stride, he was ahead of them all night. He changed speeds well. He just did a good job.”

Hough worked out of a jam in the ninth to improve his record to 4-3 and give the Rangers a pitcher with a winning mark. Bill Buckner opened the inning with a single and went to third on Mike Easler’s one-out single, bringing Valentine rushing to the mound.

“He asked me how I felt,” Hough said. “I said I felt like a double play. Pete (first baseman O’Brien) told me if the ball was hit to him, they were going for the double play.”

Sure enough, Rich Gedman bounced to O’Brien, and the Rangers completed the game-ending double play, Hough taking shortstop Curtis Wilkerson’s relay back to first for the final out.

It was the third loss in a row for Oil Can Boyd, and his record dropped to 4-4. In the last three games Boyd has pitched, the Red Sox were shut out twice and held to one run in the other.

He gave up only five hits, but one was a triple by Gary Ward leading off the fifth. Ward scored the only run of the game when he slid home just ahead of left fielder Jim Rice’s throw after Rice caught Cliff Johnson’s fly.

(BLOCK) Toronto 7, Cleveland 6--The Blue Jays are playing the best baseball in the majors, and a big reason is the outstanding job being done by their bullpen.

But in this game at Cleveland, Lloyd Moseby hit a two-run home run and Ernie Whitt belted a three-run shot in the third inning to help the Blue Jays build a 6-0 lead, and the bullpen almost blew it.

Reliever Dennis Lamp (4-0) was the winner, but before the Indians were finally subdued, Jim Acker, Bill Caudill and Gary Lavelle were summoned to the mound. Lavelle retired the last three Indians with the potential tying run on base to save Toronto’s fifth win in a row.

“We go through streaks,” Whitt said, “and we’re going through one now. We’ve got to keep winning while we’re hot.

“The big difference this season is that we have the bullpen. No team wins a pennant without a good one.”

Kansas City 8, Chicago 4--About the only consolation for the White Sox at Kansas City as they lost their fourth in a row was that they kept George Brett from hitting the long ball.

However, Brett had three singles, drove in four runs and scored two to lead the Royals’ attack and enable Danny Jackson to improve his record to 3-2.

Jackson gave up nine hits, but only two of the four White Sox runs were earned. Dan Quisenberry, who has returned to form after a mild slump, gave up only a single in the last three innings for his seventh save.

Milwaukee 5, Minnesota 2--The Brewers are starting to hit the way Manager George Bamberger thought they would this season.

In this game at Milwaukee, the Brewers pounded out 12 hits, including a home run by Paul Molitor. Ted Simmons drove in two runs and scored another for the Brewers.

“Earlier in the season, I thought our hitters were trying too hard,” Bamberger said. “Now, we’re swinging the bat the way we should.”

Tom Brunansky homered in the ninth for the Twins’ final run. It gave him 12 for the season and tied him for the league lead.

Rollie Fingers replaced Pete Ladd after Brunansky’s homer and retired the last three batters for his fifth save.

New York 10, Oakland 3--Dave Winfield’s three-run homer capped a six-run Yankee outburst in the fourth inning at Oakland.

The Yankees also had four doubles to support the six-hit pitching of Joe Cowley (3-2) and two relievers. Cowley went seven innings, and Brian Fisher and Dave Righetti each pitched one scoreless inning.

Chris Codiroli (5-2) was dealt his first loss since the opening game of the season.

Dave Kingman hit his 10th homer, with a man aboard, for the A’s in the sixth.

Former A’s star Rickey Henderson was hitless for the Yankees but scored two runs and got his 12th stolen base of the season in as many attempts after reaching base on an error in the seventh.

Detroit 4, Seattle 3--Darrell Evans hit a leadoff home run in the top of the 11th inning at Seattle to win it for the Tigers.

Seattle starter Mike Moore went 10 innings, allowing 10 hits and striking out 9 but gave way to Mike Stanton (1-1) at the start of the 11th. Evans took one strike from Stanton before clearing the right-field wall with his seventh home run and fifth in the last nine games.

Detroit bullpen ace Willie Hernandez (3-1) was the winner with 2 innings of hitless relief.