American League Roundup : Langston Fans 15 for Club Record

Mark Langston is able to cut loose with his fastball again and he has the American League hitters anything but loose.

The 25-year old left-hander struck out a club-record 15 batters and gave up only three hits Wednesday at Seattle in pitching the Mariners to a 6-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Danny Tartabull drove in three runs with a home run and a single to help Langston improve his record to 8-5. An unearned run in the seventh cost him a shutout.

It has taken more than a year for Langston to regain the blazing fastball that enabled him to lead the league in strikeouts and win Rookie of the Year honors in 1984. After starting out well last season, he developed a mysterious elbow problem. He lost his fastball and his record fell from 17-10, as a rookie to 7-14 as a sophomore.

Langston visited numerous orthopedic specialists and never received a firm diagnosis. It was just recently the elbow quit hurting and his fastball returned.

There was an indication on May 14 when he struck out 10 White Sox before leaving with one out in the sixth. After this performance, his fourth win in a row, there is no doubt.

“That was the hardest I’ve thrown in a long time,” Langston told the Associated Press. “I had a good fastball and a slider. When I’m getting those pitches over, I usually get quite a few strikeouts.

“The elbow doesn’t hurt anymore. When it did, it was only when I extended (on the fastball) that it hurt. When you take the fastball away from me, I’m in trouble.

“The big mistake I made last season was in coming back too soon. If I hadn’t been so eager to come back I probably would have regained the fastball last season.”

Boston 5, New York 4--Al Nipper, out since May 18 with an injury, gave up hits to the first three batters he faced at Boston, then settled down to pitch a strong six innings as the Red Sox increased their lead in the East to five games.

The Yankees got two runs in the first in their bid for a three-game sweep, but the Red Sox scored five in the bottom of the first inning. The inning lasted 47 minutes. Tony Armas delivered a two-run single in the rally.

With the Yankees trailing, 5-4, Rickey Henderson was safe on an error, but Joe Sambito picked him off first.

Detroit 11, Baltimore 2--Kirk Gibson hit two home runs and drove in five runs at Detroit to make it easy for Jack Morris (7-4) to breeze. Morris gave up seven hits and struck out nine.

Mike Boddicker lost only for the second time in 12 decisions, failing to last through three innings. He had won seven in a row.

Lou Whitaker had hits and scored a run in each of his first three times at bat. Darrell Evans and Johnny Grubb also homered for the Tigers. It was Grubb’s first home run of the season.

Toronto 5, Milwaukee 1--Jim Clancy took a week off because of a tender hamstring and didn’t really know what to expect when he went out to face the Brewers at Toronto.

Clancy (7-5) did surprisingly well. He held the Brewers to five hits in six innings and felt no pain. Dennis Lamp held the Brewers to one hit in the last three innings.

Rance Mulliniks and Jesse Barfield hit home runs as the Blue Jays jumped on Tim Leary (9-6) for eight hits and five runs in seven innings.

Kansas City 5, Oakland 4--Shortstop Alfredo Griffin fumbled George Brett’s potential double play ball with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning at Kansas City to set up the winning run for the Royals.

When Jorge Orta followed with a single, Rudy Law scored from second with the winning run.

Steve Farr pitched four scoreless innings in relief of Dennis Leonard to improve his record to 5-1.

The A’s tied the score in the sixth on Jose Canseco’s second double of the game and Dave Kingman’s single.

Chicago 4, Minnesota 3--Bobby Bonilla raced home from first on a two-out double by Greg Walker in the sixth inning at Chicago and it turned out to be the winning run.

Tom Seaver held the Twins to one hit through four innings, but gave up a fifth-inning home run to Gary Gaetti, his 17th of the season, and was knocked out in the sixth.

After the game, White Sox Manager Jim Fregosi told the Associated Press that Seaver “is a very unhappy player who should get traded. Tom and I had a meeting and there is no sense in his staying here. We are doing our best to work out a deal.”