American League Roundup : These Days, Yankee Fans Are Cheering Whitson

Ed Whitson pitched a four-hitter, and Don Mattingly continued his hot hitting Friday night at New York to lead the Yankees to a 6-0 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Mattingly, in stretching his major league-leading hitting streak to 20 games, had a three-run home run, a double and a single, and Dan Pasqua hit two upper-deck home runs.

Mattingly, who leads the majors in runs batted in with 68, hit the three-run smash in the third inning, and that’s all Whitson needed.

In his sixth consecutive sharp performance, Whitson has turned the fans around. In winning his fourth in a row, Whitson had most of the crowd of 21,832 in Yankee Stadium on their feet cheering. A month ago, the fans were riding him unmercifully.

The Yankees signed Whitson, a 14-game winner for San Diego last season, as a free agent that put him in the class of millionaires. When he pitched atrociously for the first two months, the fans didn’t just boo him, they sent him bundles of hate mail.

He was 1-6 after 11 starts and had an earned-run average of 6.37. He heard shouts of, “Go back to San Diego, you jerk,” and, “How does it feel to be stealing money?”

In one scary incident, the 30-year-old right-hander had to run a red light in his car to escape fans in a car who were shouting obscenities at him.

“I’ve never been a good early-season pitcher,” Whitson told The Sporting News. “I guess the fans didn’t know that. I knew I would turn the corner eventually, but before I did, I was beginning to think American League hitters were fantastic.”

At the suggestion of Manager Billy Martin, Whitson started throwing his fastball more instead of relying on his palmball and breaking pitches.

In his last six starts, he has given up only six earned runs in 47 innings, for a 1.14 ERA. The hate mail long ago ceased.

“I’m getting favorable letters these days,” he said, “but I still check them for ticking.”

Whitson, in handing the Rangers their sixth defeat in seven games, was helped by four double plays. He faced only one batter over the minimum.

Minnesota 3, Detroit 2--Ray Miller, the new manager of the Twins is a gambling man. In this game at Detroit, he had relief pitcher Ron Davis put the potential winning run on base in the ninth inning and got away with it.

With two out and a runner on second, Lou Whitaker was given an intentional walk. Davis then made Alan Trammell bounce into a game-ending force play.

“Walking Whitaker to get to Trammell is risky,” Miller told the Associated Press, “but I felt it was better for Davis to face a right-handed batter.”

It was the sixth time in six games that the Twins have beaten the Tigers this season.

Cleveland 5, Kansas City 4--Brett Butler was just trying to make contact when he faced bullpen star Dan Quisenberry in the 11th inning at Cleveland.

Butler made contact, rapping a single to score George Vukovich from third base with the winning run.

Baltimore 10, Chicago 3--The Orioles, with three more home runs at Baltimore, regained the major league lead with 101.

Mike Young hit a two-run homer, and Fred Lynn and Cal Ripken also homered to help rookie Ken Dixon (5-3) gain his first victory since May 17. It was Lynn’s dramatic home run with two out in the ninth inning that won Thursday night’s game.

Lee Lacy didn’t have any home runs, but he doubled in two runs in the sixth and extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

Boston 5, Seattle 4--Wade Boggs’ infield single scored Steve Lyons in the ninth inning to give the Red Sox the win at Seattle.

Boston trailed, 4-3, going into the ninth, but Rich Gedman tied the game by leading off with his sixth home run, off Ed Nunez.

Earlier, Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice got into a minor altercation with a Seattle fan in the third inning. Rice was chasing a foul pop-up down the left-field line. He caught it, but a fan reached out and took the ball out of his glove. The All-Star outfielder then climbed up on a railing to slap the fan, knocking the ball out of his hand.

In his next plate appearance, which came in the sixth, Rice was soundly booed and responded by smacking Moore’s first pitch over the right-field wall for his 17th home run.

Milwaukee 5, Oakland 3--Jim Gantner, whose error enabled the A’s to tie the score in the seventh inning, singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning at Oakland. Robin Yount hit his seventh home run in the ninth.

Ted Higuera pitched a six-hitter for the Brewers. The loser was Chris Codiroli (8-6), but the winning hit came off ace reliever Jay Howell.