American League Roundup : Rayford’s Statistics Work for Weaver, 16-4

Earl Weaver, manager of the Baltimore Orioles, is a firm believer in statistics.

Saturday morning, his computer suggested a lineup including the name of reserve catcher Floyd Rayford, who had a .556 career average against Boston’s Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd. Several hours later, after the Orioles rolled to a 16-4 victory over the Red Sox at Boston to end a four-game losing streak, Weaver was accepting congratulations for his genius.

Rayford, making only his 17th appearance this season, went 4 for 5, including a homer and a double. He drove in four runs and scored three. Two of the hits were off Boyd (9-6), raising his average against the right-hander to .636.

“You try to find the right spot to get a guy in there,” said Weaver, who rejoined the team as manager June 13. “He had gone 5 for 9 against Boyd, and you look for starts for a guy like that.”

Boyd suffered through four innings, giving up nine hits and seven runs.

Lee Lacy also drove in four runs, and Eddie Murray had three RBIs with a homer and a single in the Orioles’ 19-hit outburst.

Detroit 8, Toronto 0--The Tigers, behind the two-hit pitching of Walt Terrell, cut the Blue Jays’ lead in the East to 2 1/2 games.

Chet Lemon, Dave Bergman and Kirk Gibson each hit solo homers for the Tigers, who won for the 14th time in 18 games.

Terrell (9-3) gave up a two-out double to Lloyd Moseby, who was out trying to stretch it into a triple, in the first inning and a one-out single to Willie Upshaw in the seventh.

Third baseman Tom Brookens, who had three doubles, made a diving stab of George Bell’s line drive with two men on and one out in the seventh to preserve Terrell’s shutout.

A crowd of 47,965 pushed Detroit over the million mark in attendance for the 21st consecutive time.

Milwaukee 6, New York 0--Moose Haas pitched 6 hitless innings before settling for a one-hitter at New York.

Don Mattingly’s double was the Yankees’ only hit. Haas (7-3), who walked Willie Randolph in the third, had retired 13 batters in a row, including Ken Griffey on a pop-up to short to start the seventh, before Mattingly drilled a 1-1 pitch--Haas’ 61st pitch of the game--to the gap in right-center. Haas threw only 86 pitches in ending the Yankees’ four-game winning streak.

Meanwhile, the Brewers chased 46-year-old Phil Niekro (7-7) in the fourth inning and handed him his fourth consecutive setback. Seattle 3, Cleveland 2--At Seattle, Gorman Thomas snapped a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with his 12th home run of the season, his second game-winning blast in two nights, to give the Mariners their eighth straight victory.

The Mariners, who beat Burt Blyleven (7-7) to snap his personal four-game winning streak, reached the .500 mark for the first time since April 23.

The Indians have now dropped four straight and seven of eight on their current 12-game trip.

Minnesota 1, Chicago 0--The Twins’ Mike Smithson threw a no-hitter for 6 innings but wasn’t around for the finish at Chicago.

Smithson (6-7) allowed only one hit for 8 innings, a single to center by Ozzie Guillen.

Chicago threatened in the ninth. With one out, Carlton Fisk walked, sending Smithson, who walked five and struck out seven, to the showers.

Dave Engle’s first home run of the season accounted for his first RBI since July 27, 1984.

Oakland 7, Texas 6--Bruce Bochte hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning at Arlington, Tex., to keep the second-place A’s three games behind the Angels.

Bochte hit his third home run of the season in the seventh off reliever Dave Rozema (3-5) to give the A’s a 7-5 lead.

Texas rallied for a run in the eighth on an RBI single by Toby Harrah, his fourth hit of the game. However, Jay Howell then shut the door to gain his 15th save.