American League Roundup : Martin’s Yankees Are on the Road Back, and They Trounce A’s, 13-1

Maybe, it was the right time for George Steinbrenner to bring back Billy Martin.

In the first month of his fourth term as manager of the New York Yankees, Martin has transformed a team that was last in the East to an exciting, run-producing winner.

Although Martin gave his best hitter, Don Mattingly, a day off to rest an ailing groin muscle, the Yankees pounded out 19 hits Sunday at Oakland and smashed the A’s, 13-1.

In the absence of last year’s batting champion, who is hitting .319 and leads the majors in runs batted in with 38, the Yankees turned to unexpected sources for their hitting.

Bobby Meacham, a .248 hitter, was 4 for 4 and drove in three runs; Billy Sample, a .235 hitter, was 4 for 5, scored three runs and drove in another, and Willie Randolph, who had not hit a home run all season, hit one with a man on base.

All this made it easy for Ron Guidry to improve his record to 5-3. He gave up only four hits in eight innings, including Dwayne Murphy’s fifth home run.

Although the Yankees lost their first two games after Martin replaced Yogi Berra as manager on April 28, they are 15-9 under Martin and have moved into fourth place. The only problem: Toronto, the leader in the East, has played even better (17-7) and leads the Yankees by six games. However, the Yankees, 21-19 for the season, have played 25 of their 40 games on the road.

Modestly, Martin gives the players the credit for the turnaround.

“There’s no Martin Magic,” he said. “The reason we’re winning is that the players are working hard. They’re doing the job. You play hard, you’re going to get in position to score.”

It also helps that Rickey Henderson, hampered by injuries in the spring, is finally in top shape. In Sunday’s game Henderson had three hits to climb above .300 and stole his 13th base in his 13th try this season.

Guidry was superb. He struck out five and walked only one batter. Going into the eighth he had not permitted a runner to reach second. After Murphy homered in the eighth to spoil the shutout, Martin decided there was no point sending the veteran left-hander out for the ninth. Instead, he gave Bob Shirley some needed work.

Toronto 6, Cleveland 5--Hot-hitting Jesse Barfield just stood there fouling off pitches in the ninth inning at Cleveland until Keith Creel finally gave him the one he wanted.

With the score tied, 5-5, Barfield had fouled off seven of the nine pitches thrown to him. The 10th he hit for a 400-foot home run, his sixth game-winning hit.

It also extended his hitting streak to 16 games, the Blue Jays’ winning streak to seven and the Indians’ losing streak to five.

“I was thinking home run, but Creel was thinking strikeout,” Barfield said. “I just wanted to get the game over. It seemed as though I was at bat for an hour. I finally got what I was looking for.”

His blast ended a sorry home stand for the Indians, who had a 3-8 record and the first rainout of the major league season.

Milwaukee 5, Minnesota 3--Robin Yount hit a two-run home run to highlight a four-run third inning at Milwaukee and the Brewers went on to hand the Twins their fifth loss in a row.

Although his injured shoulder hasn’t healed enough to permit him to return to shortstop, it isn’t bothering his hitting. This was the second game in a row in which he hit a two-run home run.

The Brewers, starting to get some hitting, have won six of their last seven.

Bob Gibson, emerging as a star out of the Brewer bullpen, pitched a scoreless 2 innings to earn his first save. Usually the long reliever, Gibson has five victories.

Kansas City 3, Chicago 2--Frank White led off the eighth inning of a tie game at Kansas City looking for the walk that would start a go-ahead rally.

Instead, Bob James gave him a fastball on a 3-and-2 count and White hit the ball over the fence in left-center for a long home run and the Royals’ fifth win in a row.

Dan Quisenberry pitched a hitless ninth to save Bud Black’s fifth victory and make sure the slumping White Sox lost their sixth game on a six-game trip.

Texas 5, Boston 3--New Manager Bobby Valentine is definitely turning the Rangers around. He has even made a winner of Frank Tanana.

Cliff Johnson hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning at Arlington, Tex., to give the Rangers a sweep of the four-game series with the Red Sox and end Tanana’s five-game season-long losing streak.

Despite home runs by Glenn Hoffman (his first since 1983) and Jim Rice, the Red Sox lost for the 11th time in the last 14 games.