American League Roundup : McRae, at 39, Has Royals on a Roll

Hal McRae has been the Kansas City Royals’ designated hitter almost since the American League adopted the rule in 1973. Twice he has won the award as the outstanding DH.

Late last season he lost the job to Jorge Orta and many thought a career that began at Cincinnati in 1970 was just about over. McRae, batting only against left-handers this season, was 39 on July 10. He was batting about .200 and the Royals weren’t making any kind of a move to get into the race in the West.

Last Monday, McRae started hitting. Not coincidentally, the Royals started winning.

McRae completed a hot week Sunday at Kansas City when he hit a two-run home run to lead the Royals to a 7-4 victory and put the Royals just three games behind the slumping Angels.

Steve Balboni hit a three-run homer for the surging Royals to help Mark Gubicza improve his record to 7-5. For the fifth time in the last six games, Dan Quisenberry came on to save the victory.

The Royals have won six in a row, sweeping the New York Yankees and the Indians, and McRae has played a part in all six victories.

For the week he was 11 for 28, driving in eight runs and scoring eight and lifting his average to a more respectable .248. Three times he came through with the game-winning hit. Now, Manager Dick Howser has McRae hitting against right-handers, too.

“Mac has been banging the ball all over the field against almost everyone he faces,” Howser told the UPI. “If we’re going to win our division, it seems we’re going to have to find a regular spot for Mac.”

The Royals were 7 1/2 games behind when McRae started his hot streak and now they are closer to first than they have been since June 20 when they were 2 1/2 behind.

Detroit 3, Minnesota 2--Darrell Evans hit the 300th home run of his career in this game at Minneapolis and it was one of his most enjoyable. Evans, running his home run streak to three games in a row, broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth when he belted a 3-0 pitch for his 22nd home run of the season.

“The home run is gratifying only because we won. We need a bunch of wins,” he said.

While some of his teammates are having problems, the 38-year-old third baseman is on a spree. On May 14 he was hitting only .167 with two home runs and four RBIs. Since then he has hit 20 home runs and driven in 48 runs while batting .271 in 60 games.

Frank Tanana, who has been pitching in poor luck since joining the Tigers, survived a two-run first inning to pitch seven strong innings. Willie Hernandez, out since July 20 with an injured side, pitched two scoreless innings for his 20th save.

Baltimore 6, Chicago 1--Scott McGregor believes that Mike Flanagan showed the rest of the Oriole pitching staff the way Thursday night when he beat the White Sox.

“He was so relaxed out there while the rest of us had been trying too hard,” McGregor said after pitching a four-hitter at Chicago Sunday. “This is the best I’ve felt for a while.”

McGregor (9-8) was in a scoreless battle with Britt Burns going into the sixth. Burns had yielded only one hit. But Rich Dauer, Eddie Murray and Gary Roenicke banged out home runs and Burns was a loser.

Seattle 7, Boston 2--Gorman Thomas would probably hit a bunch of homers if Fenway Park was his home park. Thomas hit his 20th of the season and third in two games to help Mike Moore (9-6) for the second straight time at Boston.

Jim Presley helped the Mariners with four singles, scoring a run and driving in another.

Wade Boggs returned to the Red Sox lineup after missing a game with a stiff neck and went 2 for 4.

Oakland 5, Milwaukee 2--Alfredo Griffin had three hits, scored three runs and drove in another at Milwaukee, and the A’s handed the Brewers their 16th loss in the last 23 games.

Bill Krueger (8-9) went seven innings and Jay Howell pitched two scoreless innings to gain his 20th save. Danny Darwin (6-12) lost his sixth in a row.

Texas 8, New York 2--Sensational Oddibe McDowell hit Marty Bystrom’s first pitch of the season for a home run at Arlington, Texas and the Rangers hammered the Yankee right-hander for seven runs in two innings.

The hot-hitting McDowell has homered leading off the last two games and has hit five home runs in the last six games.

Bystrom, who had been on the disabled list with an arm injury, was gone before he could wilt in the 104-degree weather.

Rickey Henderson hit his 14th for the Yankees.