American League Roundup : Again, Oil Can Goes Distance for Red Sox

Only Oil Can has prevented a complete breakdown in the Boston Red Sox machine.

Although his record is only 5-4 after pitching a five-hitter Wednesday night at Boston to beat the slumping Minnesota Twins, 7-0, Oil Can Boyd has pitched brilliantly.

This was the 11th start for the 25-year-old right-hander, and it was the 10th time he pitched well enough to keep the Red Sox in the game. In the other game, it didn’t make any difference because the Red Sox didn’t score.

It was the fifth time in the last six games that Boyd has pitched a complete game. Yet, he was battling a three-game losing streak. In his three previous starts, the Red Sox scored only one run. Boyd lost, 5-0, 2-1 and 1-0.

In pitching his second shutout, Boyd lowered his earned run average to 2.48. It was his second shutout. He struck out five, walked three and threw only 112 pitches.

The Red Sox, who haven’t been hitting up to expectations most of the season, finally came through with some hitting for their ace. They hammered out 12 hits against the Twins, who have lost seven in a row. Wade Boggs led the Sox attack with three hits and drove in three runs.

“I hated losing those close games,” Boyd said. “But I never lost faith in my teammates. If any team can score, it’s us.

“I couldn’t ask for a better atmosphere than the guys created for me tonight. I could tell they wanted to get out there. Remember, we do this as a team. It was just time for me to beat somebody. I kept the hitters off balance.”

His six complete games is the top total in the league. In one of the route performances, he struck out 12 but lost.

“He is really an outstanding pitcher,” Roy Smalley of the Twins said. “He never shows the hitter the same speed. I don’t think he had his best fastball tonight, but all his other pitches were working well.”

Oakland 4, Detroit 2--Carney Lansford came out of a miserable slump at Detroit and helped the A’s reach the .500 mark for the first time in more than a month.

Lansford, who was 2 for 23, hammered two home runs and a single and drove in three runs to help Chris Codiroli improve his record to 6-2 .

“I thought Codiroli looked awful good,” Manager Sparky Anderson of the Tigers said. “Either that or we’re awful bad. If you’re not hitting any better than we’re hitting, it wouldn’t matter who we’re playing. We’re scoring fewer than four runs a game.”

Dave Collins, who doubled before Lansford homered in the first, hit his second home run in the fifth just before Lansford hit his seventh of the season.

Kansas City 6, Texas 2--You think George Brett isn’t feeling good these days. He feels so good he can even hit a knuckleball.

Brett hit his eighth home run----his first at Kansas City----and a single off one of the best knuckleball pitchers around, Charlie Hough.

“I don’t know if it was one of those things where I hit the ball or the ball hit the bat,” said Brett, who drove in two runs to give him 17 runs batted in in the last nine games. “I’ll take anything I get off that guy.

“I think this is the fastest start I’ve had in 12 years. I feel as though I’m running as well as I did when I was young. I probably owe it to working out in the off-season and taking off 20 pounds.”

The Royals have won seven of their last eight since bullpen ace Dan Quisenberry returned to top form. The underhand specialist hurled two perfect innings to register his 10th save.

Chicago 8, Toronto 5--It took an awesome power demonstration at Chicago to put an end to the Blue Jays’ eight-game winning streak.

Carlton Fisk and Ron Kittle each hit two home runs and between them drove in all the White Sox runs. They started the assault on Toronto with back-to-back blasts in the second inning.

Fisk hit a two-out bloop single to drive in two runs in the third, then hit a two-run home run in the fifth. Maybe the Blue Jays didn’t want him to do any more damage, so they hit Fisk when he came up in the eighth. Kittle followed with his second homer and the streak was ended.

Britt Burns, although he needed help in the seventh, improved his record to 6-4. One of the hits he gave up was a two-run home run by Buck Martinez in the sixth. It ended an 0-for-32 string. Martinez’s last previous hit was his other home run this season, on April 28.

Seattle 5, Baltimore 4--Darnell Coles missed a chance to drive in the winning run in the ninth inning at Baltimore, but in the 11th he hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to win the game.

After scoring four runs in the first inning, the Mariners didn’t score again until the 10th. The Orioles fought back and finally tied the game on Cal Ripken’s homer in the fifth.

Milwaukee 7, Cleveland 2--Rookie Earnest Riles had three hits at Milwaukee, including his first major league home run. Ray Burris survived a shaky first inning to improve his record to 3-4.

Bob Gibson pitched three scoreless innings to pick up his second save.

Jim Gantner also hit a home run for the Brewers.