American League Roundup : Brown Makes His Point and Beats Chicago

After a strong showing this spring, right-hander Mike Brown was convinced he was finally ready to be a winner in the American League.

The Boston Red Sox management wasn’t convinced and the angry young man was sent back to the minors. It’s possible Brown knew more than management. The Red Sox brought Brown back last week when pitcher Wes Gardner was put on the disabled list.

They even gave him a chance to start Sunday at Boston against the Chicago White Sox. It was no mistake. Brown gave up just five hits and two runs in seven innings to pitch the Red Sox to a 6-2 victory and a sweep of the three-game series.

In 1983, Brown was considered a top prospect and had a 6-6 record after coming up in midseason. He had a slow start in 1984, was plagued by a series of injuries and was back in the minors. Last season he was emotionally upset because his father lingered through a terminal illness.

“It’s been such a long time between wins that I don’t even remember the last one,” said Brown, shipped out despite an 0.75 earned-run average in the spring.

“The last couple of years have been tough, but now I’m healthy in every respect again and I just want the chance. I know I have the ability.

“Before the game I was very nervous. I felt like a 10-year-old kid, but once it got going I felt OK. I know I can help this club.”

The Red Sox scored four times in the second inning against Floyd Bannister (1-2), but only one was earned. It was the fourth loss in a row for the White Sox and dropped their record to 2-10.

“We’re just in a rut,” Manager Tony LaRussa said. “We just need a couple of wins to turn things around.”

Baltimore 6, Texas 1--The good news for the Orioles is that Storm Davis is still too much for the Rangers to handle and that Eddie Murray has a hot bat.

The bad news is that right-hander Mike Boddicker has a partially torn ligament in the middle finger of his pitching hand and will be out at least 15 days.

Davis pitched a four-hitter at Baltimore for his first victory of the season and improved his record against the Rangers to 8-0.

Manager Earl Weaver, who had thought the Orioles were ready to roll until he learned the news about Boddicker, said Davis pitched the way Jim Palmer did in his prime.

“In the seventh, eighth and ninth, when the game was in the bank,” Weaver said, “he went with No. 1, his fastball. That’s his best pitch, and he showed ‘em the others, just enough to get them to thinking.

“He can dominate this league like Dwight Gooden dominates the National League. Maybe we brought him up too early. Twenty is awfully young, and he might just be maturing at 24.”

It was the first appearance in nine days for Davis.

Murray, off to a horrible start, hit a two-run homer and a single. After going 3 for 32 to open the season, he was 7-for-12 with 7 RBIs in three games against Texas.

Oakland 9, Seattle 3--Moose Haas has become the ace of the surprisingly good A’s pitching staff. In this game at Seattle, Haas improved his record to 3-0 by holding the Mariners to two hits in seven innings.

The A’s picked up Haas for two minor leaguers just before the season started. In his three appearances, Haas, 8-8 with Milwaukee last season, has pitched 23 innings and given up 13 hits and only three runs. He has 15 strikeouts and only 4 walks.

Another pleasant surprise for the A’s (7-5), is infielder Tony Phillips. Phillips had three hits and scored three runs. He has 18 hits and has scored 11 runs in 12 games.

New York 5, Milwaukee 4--For the second day in a row at Milwaukee, Yankee bullpen ace Dave Righetti failed to hold a lead. This time, though, the Yankees came back to give him a victory and end a three-game losing streak.

Earnest Riles singled home Mike Felder from second in the ninth inning off Righetti to tie the game at 4-4.

In the 10th, though, Robin Yount, unaccustomed to playing first base, fielded a grounder, then threw wildly to pitcher Bob Clear, covering first and Dave Winfield, who had doubled, raced home with the go-ahead run.

Willie Randolph had three hits for the Yankees to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Kansas City 6, Toronto 4--Frank White hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning at Toronto to make the Blue Jays sorry they pitched around George Brett again.

In the three-game series the Blue Jays walked Brett seven times and hit him twice. Brett went 0 for 6 in the series, but scored a run in each game.

White, who hit 22 home runs last season, hit his first after the intentional walk to Brett and gave Charlie Leibrandt a 6-2 lead.

It was Leibrandt who beat the Blue Jays in the seventh game of the championship series last fall. To win this one, he needed help from Dan Quisenberry in the eighth. The ace reliever faced eight batters and three of them hit safely, but he got his third save.