American League Roundup : Tanana Tosses One-Hitter to Beat Brewers, 4-1

Not everything the Detroit Tigers have done this season has turned out badly. Take, for instance, the acquisition of Frank Tanana in late June from Texas.

The 32-year-old left-hander, considered one of the finest pitchers in the game in the late 70s when he pitched for the Angels, has been a solid performer for the Tigers.

He was almost perfect Friday night at Detroit. Tanana gave up only one hit and faced 28 batters, one over the minimum, in pitching the Tigers to a 4-1 victory over Milwaukee.

The only hit was a home run by Ben Oglivie in the fifth inning after Tanana retired the first 13 Brewers. The Tigers haven’t scored many runs for Tanana but, in the bottom of the fifth, Jim Lemon hit a three-run home run to help Tanana run his record to 6-10.

With Texas, Tanana was 2-7 and had a 5.91 earned-run average. He is only 4-3 with the Tigers, but he has pitched well in all eight starts for the Tigers. Manager Sparky Anderson nominated him for Hard Luck Pitcher of July. He has pitched 58 innings for them and has an ERA of 2.33.

Once a flame-thrower, Tanana, since developing arm trouble a few years ago, has been a control pitcher. In six of his starts for the Tigers, including this one, he has walked only one batter.

“Milwaukee is a ballclub that if you make mistakes they’re going to hurt you,” Tanana told the Associated Press. “They’re a free-swinging club. But if you work high, low, up and down, you’ve got a pretty good chance.

“This is a funny game. I had the same stuff in Chicago, and you saw what happened--bloopers and bleeders, and I got beat.”

Brewer Manager George Bamberger praised the performance. “We have to give Mr. Tanana credit,” he said. “He pitched outstanding. His velocity is about 82 (miles per hour) but his off-speed stuff just makes it look much faster.”

Kansas City 4, Boston 3--Lonnie Smith, a hot hitter on a hot team, singled home Pat Sheridan from third base with one out in the 10th at Kansas City to give the Royals their ninth win in the last 10 games.

Smith, who has hit safely in seven games in a row, made a winner out of Dan Quisenberry. In the last nine victories, Quisenberry has seven saves and a victory.

The Red Sox built a 3-0 lead, but Bruce Hurst faltered in the ninth. Hal McRae sent the game into extra innings with a two-run double off reliever Mark Clear. Smith’s double with one out in the ninth had driven Hurst from the mound.

Smith, who was batting .190 after coming over from the St. Louis Cardinals early in the season, has batted .320 for the last month.

Chicago 6, New York 5--It was a wild night at New York. Billy Martin was released from a Texas hospital in time to manage and see his club lose a strange one.

With the score tied, 3-3, White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk tagged two Yankees out at the plate trying to score in the seventh on the same hit.

The White Sox scored twice in the top of the 10th, but Dave Winfield tied it with a two-run home run.

In the 11th, with two out, Ozzie Guillen singled and stole second, the White Sox’s sixth steal of the game. On an infield hit by Luis Salazar, the speedy Guillen went all the way home with the winning run.

Juan Agosto (3-2) got the win for Chicago, while Rich Bordi (2-4) took the loss for New York, playing its first home game since July 14.

New York’s Don Mattingly had two home runs.

Toronto 5, Texas 3--George Bell, one of those tall, silent type becoming so prevalent in baseball, hit a grand slam at Toronto as the Blue Jays continued their dash to the East title.

Bell’s slam, his 20th home run of the season, wiped out a 3-0 deficit and enabled the Blue Jays to stretch their lead to 9 1/2 games.

Doyle Alexander struggled through three innings, then straightened out and improved his record to 11-6. He went eight innings before Tom Henke pitched a scoreless ninth to get his first save. In his other two relief appearances, Henke has been the winner.

Baltimore 8, Cleveland 6--The Indians just couldn’t stand prosperity. They had won three in a row from the Yankees and were leading, 6-5, in the seventh inning at Cleveland.

However, Cal Ripken’s two-out double drove in the tying run in the seventh and Eddie Murray followed with a single for his 10th game-winning RBI. Murray also drove in the extra run in the ninth with a sacrifice fly.

Sammy Stewart came to the rescue of Scott McGregor in the fifth inning and held the Indians to one hit in five innings for his fourth victory.

Oakland 3, Seattle 1--Mike Davis hit his 20th home run, and three A’s pitchers combined on a four-hitter at Oakland.

Rick Langford pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Tommy John. John had to leave after three innings when he injured his finger in a rundown play. He had to leave to have the finger X-rayed.

Steve Ontiveros pitched the last three innings to earn his third save. John gave up the only run in the third on two singles. Langford and Ontiveros each gave up a hit.

Mike Heath’s two-out single tied the score for the A’s in the third, and Donnie Hill’s sacrifice fly followed Steve Kiefer’s triple in the fourth.