American League Roundup : Filer Starts Blue Jays on Sweep to Boost Lead

The Toronto Blue Jays trotted out their good luck charm--Tom Filer--and wound up winning a doubleheader Friday night at Chicago to increase their lead in the American League East to four games.

After Filer improved his record to 7-0 by pitching five innings of the 6-3 victory in the opener, the Blue Jays came back to wallop the White Sox in the second game, 10-3. The big blow of the nightcap was a 450-foot blast into the center-field bleachers by George Bell. It was only the seventh homer in the 75 years of Comiskey Park’s existence to reach the bleachers in center field. It came with two men on in the seventh and turned the game into a rout.

In the first game, Jesse Barfield singled home two runs in the fourth inning to give the Blue Jays the lead, and after Jeff Burroughs singled, Garth Iorg tripled home two more.

Filer gave up two runs and four hits before the bullpen took charge. Tom Henke struck out the side in the ninth to earn his fifth save.

Filer is off to the best start ever by a Blue Jay pitcher. He was brought up July 5 and gained his first victory July 22. He has won every start since then.

“He’s our good luck charm,” Manager Bobby Cox said. “It seems that every time out he gives us five or six good innings. He also seems to bring out the best in our hitters.”

Although the Yankees won at Seattle, the Blue Jays added a half-game to their lead. While the Yankees keep talking about their drive to overtake the Blue Jays, Toronto actually has a better record since July 20, when the Yankees had cut the lead to 1 1/2 games. Since then the Blue Jays are 22-9, the Yankees 20-12.

“We can’t worry about the Yankees,” Barfield said. “We have to just go out and play the best we can. We’ve been leading most of the season. And they have to catch us.”

New York 3, Seattle 1--Mike Pagliarulo hit a fifth-inning home run at Seattle to break a 1-1 tie and enable ageless Phil Niekro to win his 296th game.

Niekro pitched six innings, giving up five hits, striking out five and walking five. Neil Allen finished to pick up his first save as a Yankee.

The Yankees have won 14 of their last 16 games.

Dave Winfield hit his 21st home run for the Yankees in the ninth.

Texas 4, Kansas City 3--It appeared to be the mismatch of the season. In a tie game in the ninth inning at Kansas City, it was Oddibe McDowell against Dan Quisenberry.

McDowell had been hitless in his last 16 at-bats and was only 1 for 32. On the other hand, Quisenberry had given up only one earned run in the last 16 innings and had a league-leading 30 saves.

But as so often happens in baseball, the unexpected occurred. McDowell hit an 0-1 pitch over the right-field wall for his 13th home run to win the game.

The Rangers trailed, 3-1, going into the eighth. But Toby Harrah doubled in one run to chase Mark Gubicza and bring on Quisenberry. Pete O’Brien singled to tie the game.

George Brett had two hits for the Royals, including his 18th home run.

Minnesota 5, Boston 2--Frank Viola pitched a five-hitter to become the first visiting left-hander to go the distance this season at Fenway Park. In improving his record to 13-10, Viola struck out seven and walked only two.

Viola trailed, 2-1, going into the seventh, but the Twins scored four times, two of them on a triple by Kirby Puckett, to give Viola his victory.

Dwight Evans hit his 15th home run for the Red Sox first run. Wade Boggs, the league’s leading hitter, was 2-for-3 to raise his average to .359.

Baltimore 7, Oakland 2--The A’s held a 2-0 lead going into the ninth inning at Oakland, but the Orioles came up with seven runs. Five were at the expense of bullpen ace Jay Howell (9-5).

Howell faced six batters. He got one batter out, gave up four hits, including a two-run triple by Jim Dwyer, and a walk.

Mike Young completed the scoring when he hit a three-run home run off Rick Langford.

A’s second baseman Donnie Hill extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a single in the sixth.

Mike Boddicker, who left the mound after eight innings thinking he was a loser, went the distance to improve his record to 11-13.

Cleveland 10, Milwaukee 5--For some time now the Indians, with the worst record in the league, have been working on their youth movement. It is one of the reasons they traded away Bert Blyleven, one of the league’s best pitchers.

Two of the top prospects, pitcher Curt Wardle and catcher Jerry Willard, played prominent roles in the victory at Cleveland.

Wardle, part of the trade in which Blyleven went to Minnesota, was wild, walking seven batters in five innings, but he gave up only three hits and evened his record at 5-5.

Willard had two hits and drove in three runs to lead the offense.