American League Roundup : Yankee Sluggers Rescue Whitson Again, 13-10

Ed Whitson, in his last seven starts, has given up an average of one run per inning.

Whitson would be a loser and probably on his way to oblivion with any other club but the New York Yankees. But the Yankees produce runs faster than their pitchers can give them up.

Whitson, despite another poor performance, became a 10-game winner and won his fifth in a row Tuesday night at Milwaukee when the thundering Yankee bats produced a 13-10 victory, their 11th in a row.

The Yankees put up with Whitson for seven innings. He gave up eight runs and 12 hits, but departed with a 13-8 lead.

In his last seven starts, Whitson, a 14-game winner for the San Diego Padres last season, has pitched 34 innings, giving up 52 hits and 34 runs, 30 of them earned. This figures out to an earned-run average of almost 8.00.

However, in those seven games Whitson is 3-0 and the Yankees are 7-0. Of course, in those seven games the Yankees have scored 66 runs.

Whitson is 10-7 for the season and has an earned-run average of 4.91.

The Yankees managed only 11 hits in this victory that enabled them to remain 1 1/2 games behind Toronto in the fight for first in the East.

Ron Hassey and Ken Griffey each hit three-run home runs as the Yankees’ posted their longest winning streak in 21 years.

Under Billy Martin, who took over after the 16th game of the season, the Yankees are 79-42.

“We’ve come a long way,” Martin told United Press International. “When I joined this team we were dead last and now we’re fighting for the pennant.

“I enjoy pressure. I played under pressure. I like managing under pressure. It brings something out in you.”

Although he had only one hit, Don Mattingly drove in three runs to raise his major league-leading total to 123. Rickey Henderson had only one hit, too, but scored three times to run his major league-leading total to 123.

Toronto 2, Detroit 1--While the Yankees are winning with booming bats, the Blue Jays are finding every game a struggle. In this game at Toronto they beat Jack Morris with a pair of broken-bat singles by Damaso Garcia.

The Tigers jumped to a 1-0 lead over Doyle Alexander (15-8) in the fifth. In the sixth, Garcia broke his bat with a bloop single and completed the circuit on singles by Lloyd Moseby and George Bell.

In the next inning, Jesse Barfield singled and stole second, scoring the winning run when Garcia broke his bat on a single to left.

“The bats, they died like champions,” Garcia said. “Morris, he was tough, very tough. I have never seen him throw better.”

Morris gave up four hits in addition to the broken bat hits by Garcia and struck out 11.

The first two times up Morris struck out Garcia. Garcia has struck out just 36 times in 549 at-bats. Morris also struck out Tony Fernandez twice. Fernandez has struck out 39 times in 478 at-bats.

“Last year,” said Alan Trammell, who drove in the Tiger run, “we pulled out these games. It’s just a different season.”

It was the sixth consecutive loss for the Tigers and the about to be unseated world champions dropped 15 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays. They are in fourth place.

Baltimore 7-3, Boston 5-5--Wade Boggs, who had two singles in the first game of the doubleheader at Boston to reach 200 hits for the third consecutive season, went 4 for 4 in the second game to help the Red Sox get a split. Boggs raised his average to .368, highest in the majors.

Mike Young hit two home runs for the Orioles in the opener, but it was Eddie Murray’s two-run smash, his 27th home run of the season, that broke a 1-1 tie and triggered a seven-run eighth inning.

Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd failed by one out to pitch a complete game in the nightcap, but his second win in a row improved his record to 13-11.

Chicago 7, Minnesota 2--Joel Davis, the White Sox’s 20-year-old rookie, held the Twins to five hits in seven innings at Chicago to improve his record to 3-2. Ron Kittle hit a home run in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie.

Oakland 10, Texas 3--Dave Kingman hit the 15th grand slam of his career to end the A’s six-game losing streak in this game at Oakland. It was his 27th home run of the season.

Cleveland 8, Seattle 5--Joe Carter drove in two runs with an inside-the-park home run, and Mike Hargrove added two RBIs in a five-run fifth inning to lead the Indians over the Mariners at Seattle.