American League Roundup : Tigers Have Bell Rung Again by Blue Jays, 9-2

Before the four-game series with Detroit began, George Bell of the Toronto Blue Jays said he thought the world champions were a toothless Tiger. The Blue Jay left fielder is doing his part to prove the point.

Bell hit a two-run home run and drove in three runs Friday night at Toronto to lead the streaking Blue Jays to a 9-2 victory over the Tigers.

It was their fifth in a row, 15th in the last 17 games, and put them 8 1/2 games in front of the defending champions in the Eastern Division. They can now do no worse than split the series.

“They are not playing the way they did last year,” Bell said. “Last year they were so hot they couldn’t lose. Now they are not that far above .500 (27-24).

“With the start they had last season, we were looking for something when we played them. Now, it’s the other way around. They came in here needing something to help them.”

Bell came out of a 16-for-67 slump Tuesday night with a three-run home run to help beat Minnesota. This game was his fourth consecutive two-hit game.

In the opener with the Tigers Thursday night, Bell had two singles. He opened the 12th by getting hit with a pitch. When Buck Martinez followed with his homer, Bell scored the winning run.

Friday night Bell singled in a run in the third, then put the game out of reach in the fifth with his 11th home run.

The heavy hitting of Bell and his teammates made it possible for Dave Stieb (6-4) to rest his ailing elbow. Stieb, after giving up two hits in six innings, departed with a 9-0 lead.

In the first two games of the series the Tigers have only two runs and nine hits.

“I can’t worry that much about the hitting because there’s just nothing you can do about it,” Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson said.

Seattle 6, Cleveland 4--Another Olympian made an auspicious debut. Bill Swift, a 23-year-old right-hander recently brought up from the Class AA minors, pitched one-hit ball for five innings at Cleveland to gain his first major league victory.

Swift, who pitched for the University of Maine, entered the game in the second inning when another rookie, Brian Snyder had to leave with a blister on his finger.

“I didn’t get excited,” Swift, one of 15 children, said, “because I didn’t expect to get into the game. It was just another game.”

Minnesota 6, Chicago 3--Pete Filson pitched the first complete game of his major league career, pitching the Twins to only their second win in the last 14 games in this game at Minneapolis.

Although he gave up 11 hits, Filson (3-2) did not walk a batter. The Twins gave Filson early hitting support. They scored twice in each of the first two innings and Gary Gaetti homered in the third to make it 5-0.

Boston 8, Baltimore 4--Dwight Evans drove in four runs and Rich Gedman went 4 for 4 at Baltimore to lead the Red Sox to their fifth in a row and their seventh in the last eight games.

Al Nipper gave up a three-run home run to Eddie Murray in the first inning, but settled down to pitch eight solid innings and win his second.

Murray also singled and is now 17 for 29 in his last eight games. However, the Orioles have won only three of the eight and now trail the Blue Jays by 6 1/2 games in the East.

Evans was batting only .199. He only went 1 for 3, but had a sacrifice fly, a two-run single and walked with the bases full.

Milwaukee 10, New York 9--Despite four home runs, two of them by Dave Winfield, the Yankees fell a run short at Milwaukee.

Despite the long-ball hitting by the Yankees, the Brewers won it in the 10th on an infield hit by Charlie Moore. With runners on second and third in the 10th, third baseman Andre Robertson fielded Moore’s grounder in the hole, but his throw home was much too late and the Brewers won.

The Yankees rallied to tie the score with two in the ninth on run-scoring singles by Don Baylor and Robertson.

Texas 4, Oakland 2--Rookie Oddibe McDowell hit an RBI double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Gary Ward as the Rangers scored twice in the 10th inning to beat the A’s at Oakland.