American League Roundup : ‘Off Year’ for Quisenberry? He Helps Royals Again With 29th Save, 2-1

Dan Quisenberry, who has been the best relief pitcher in the American League for the last few seasons, calls this an off year.

For the last month, though, his clutch pitching has kept the Kansas City Royals in the race in the West.

After George Brett hit his 17th home run to give the Royals the lead, they called on the underhand reliever in the ninth inning Wednesday night at Chicago to save a 2-1 victory over the White Sox.

It was the league-leading 29th save for Quisenberry. In his last nine appearances, covering 15 innings, Quisenberry has not allowed an earned run. However, he was the loser Tuesday night when usually reliable second baseman Frank White made an error with two out in the ninth inning.

In those nine games, Quisenberry has five saves and a victory in addition to the tough-luck defeat.

A month ago, when the Royals were 7 1/2 games behind and Quisenberry had 18 saves and an earned-run average of 2.90, he told Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post that he was having an atrocious season.

“For five years,” he told Boswell, “I had an agreement with the ball: ‘I won’t throw you too hard as long as you go exactly where I want and move like a scared alley cat when you get near the plate.’ I told the ball, ‘I like you, I want you back.’ Suddenly, the baseballs became fickle.”

Obviously, Quisenberry and the baseball are once more in agreement.

Cleveland 5, Toronto 2--The Indians have the worst record in the league, but Neal Heaton’s six-hitter gave the lowly Indians two out of three over the leaders of the East in this series at Cleveland.

Two of the hits off Heaton (7-13) were consecutive home runs in the fifth inning by Jesse Barfield, his 20th, and Cecil Fielder, his first.

Joe Carter and Julio Franco each drove in two runs for the Indians, who improved their record to 40-79. The Blue Jays are 74-46.

Texas 5, Boston 3--Gary Ward hit a three-run home run in the first inning at Boston, and the Rangers went on to hand the slumping Red Sox their sixth defeat in a row.

After the loss, losing pitcher Oil Can Boyd and slugger Jim Rice, had to be separated after Boyd (11-11) complained that the Red Sox didn’t get him any runs. Boyd weighs 145, Rice 205.

Rice told Boyd to be quiet, and when Boyd continued, Rice gave the pitcher a shove. Other players quickly stepped in.

Wade Boggs, the league’s leading hitter, had a home run and a single.

Oakland 4, Detroit 3--When Willie Hernandez was leading the Tigers’ drive to the World Series championship last season, he was a model of consistency. Every time he had a chance to save a game, he came through.

As the Tigers fade away this season, the inconsistency of Hernandez has been one of the reasons. Just when the Tigers think Hernandez is back in form, he fails again.

In this game at Oakland, the Tigers had a 3-0 lead and brought in Hernandez, who had pitched impressively in his two previous appearances, to pitch the ninth.

Two doubles, a single, a walk and a wild throw by first baseman Dave Bergman allowed the A’s to pull out the victory. Steve Henderson hit the second double to score the tying run and put Alfredo Griffin, the winning run, on third. It appeared the Tigers had Henderson trapped off second, but when Bergman’s throw was wild, Griffin scored the winning run.

Milwaukee 3, Minnesota 2--Steve Howe lost in the ninth at Milwaukee for the second game in a row, and once again, it was Ron Davis who gave up the game-ending hit.

Robin Yount singled in the winning run with one out. Although he leads the Brewers in home runs with 15 and is second in runs batted in with 62, it was only the third game-winning hit for Yount.