American League Roundup : Clemens Wins No. 16; Boston Losing Streak Ends at Three Games

A stopper is essential to a team driving to a division title. He makes certain the club doesn’t go into a prolonged slump. At the moment, the Boston Red Sox have baseball’s best stopper--Roger Clemens.

Clemens straightened out the floundering Red Sox Saturday night at Seattle when he pitched them to a 9-4 victory over the Mariners to end a three-game skid and increase their lead in the American League East to six games.

Clemens, in improving his record to 16-2, gave up six hits and struck out eight in eight innings. It was the first time he had faced the Mariners since April 29, when he struck out 20 of them.

Dwight Evans drove in three runs with a pair of singles to key the Red Sox attack. Bill Buckner and Marty Barrett each had three hits.

Don Baylor doubled in a run in the first inning to end an 0-for-23 slump.

When this season opened, Clemens, a 23-year-old right-hander, was considered the Red Sox’s No. 4 starter, behind Bruce Hurst, Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd and Al Nipper. Injuries cut short Clemens’ first two seasons, and he underwent shoulder surgery late last season. He opened the season with three straight wins and then struck out the nine-inning-record 20 batters. He has been Boston’s No. 1 starter ever since.

Detroit 5, Texas 3--When Don Slaught hit a home run off Willie Hernandez in the 12th inning at Detroit, the Rangers thought their slump was over. However, Kirk Gibson hit a three-run home run on an 0-and-2 pitch in the bottom of the inning, and the Rangers fell 2 1/2 games behind the Angels in the West.

It was the Tigers’ third straight win over the Rangers since the All-Star break.

Gibson was 0 for 5 and had struck out three times before he tagged reliever Greg Harris for his 13th home run. With one out in the 12th, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell singled to set the stage for Gibson.

Cleveland 6, Kansas City 4--While athletes many years younger are complaining about the excessive heat in the midwest, baseball’s ageless wonder, 47-year-old Phil Niekro, just keeps pitching----and pitching well.

In this game at Kansas City, Niekro (7-6) won his fourth in a row and had a shutout until rookie Cory Snyder, playing his second game at shortstop, threw away a routine grounder in the seventh inning that led to four unearned runs for the Royals.

With two on and two out, Greg Pryor hit a two-hopper right at Snyder. The rookie fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw was about six feet off target. When Angel Salazar doubled and Lonnie Smith singled, Niekro was gone.

In his last six starts, Niekro has pitched 48 innings and yielded just 13 earned runs for an earned-run average of 2.43. He won four and had two no-decisions.

Tony Bernazard homered to start the game, and Mel Hall singled home two runs in a five-run third that gave Niekro a 6-0 lead and virtually assured him of win No. 307.

Oakland 3, Milwaukee 2--Six weeks into the season, the A’s appeared to be contenders. They were battling for first place in the West mainly because of the success of two new pitchers, Moose Haas and Joaquin Andujar. Between them, they had 11 of the club’s first 19 victories.

A rash of injuries hit the A’s in late May, depriving them of Haas and Andujar, among others. The two pitchers are back, but while they were gone, the A’s fell into the cellar, and Manager Jackie Moore was fired.

It may be too late for this season, but the two pitchers appear to be healthy again. Andujar was a winner Friday night. Saturday at Oakland, Haas pitched four innings, giving up four hits and striking out four.

He was long gone before Carney Lansford hit a two-out, two-run triple in the eighth to give new Manager Tony LaRussa a 5-4 record.

Chicago 8, New York 3--Joel Skinner is taking advantage of the chance to play. The backup catcher to ailing Carlton Fisk helped spoil old-timers’ day at Yankee Stadium when he had three hits, including a two-run home run, for the first time in his career.

Skinner also had a homer Friday night. Fisk, who has missed nine games with the flu, is expected to return after today’s game.

The White Sox pounded rookie Scott Nielsen (2-1) for 13 hits in 5 innings to help Joe Cowley (5-5) beat his former teammates.

Baltimore 1, Minnesota 0--Neal Heaton (3-9) pitched a five-hitter at Baltimore, but one of the hits was Rick Dempsey’s ninth home run, which made him a loser again.

Mike Flanagan (4-6), with help from Don Aase, gained the victory. When Flanagan issued a walk with one out in the seventh, Aase was summoned. He gave up one hit in 2 innings to earn his 25th save.

“I’m never ready to come out,” Flanagan said. “But Earl (Manager Weaver) has me figured out, and he’s usually right. It was textbook managing.”