American League Roundup : Lynn Helps Revamped Orioles Beat White Sox

Manager Earl Weaver of the Baltimore Orioles, realizing the Boston Red Sox have allowed his team to get back into the race, has reshuffled his roster.

Weaver has sent Alan Wiggins, Mike Young and Floyd Rayford to the minors. Although Wiggins, the former San Diego Padre second baseman, has been a disappointment since he joined the Orioles last season, Young and Rayford were offensive forces late last season.

But Weaver, with his team just 6 1/2 games back in the American League East, made his move. “We’ve given these guys chance after chance after chance,” he said. “I’ve satisfied myself we might be better off with somebody else.”

In their first game without the trio, the Orioles, with Fred Lynn snapping out of a slump, beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2, Friday night at Baltimore.

Lynn, only 7 for 56, snapped a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with his 17th home run. Mike Boddicker, with Don Aase pitching the last two innings for his 26th save, improved his record to 13-5.

Last season, Rayford, who played third and also caught, was the Orioles’ only .300 hitter (.306), while Young hit 28 home runs and drove in 32 runs in August. Both have been slumping this year.

One of the reasons Rayford and Young are expendable is the sensational start of Jim Traber. In his first 20 at-bats after being called up to replace injured slugger Eddie Murray, Traber hit four home runs. In this, his sixth game, Traber had only a single in three tries.

To replace the three sent down, the Orioles brought up infielder Jackie Gutierrez, catcher John Stefero and handyman Tom Dodd. Dodd, in his seventh pro season, has been tearing up the Southern League with 28 home runs and 100 RBIs.

“He is having a spectacular year, and we might as well see what he can do up here,” Oriole General Manager Hank Peters said.

Gutierrez and Dodd were brought in for defense after the Orioles built their lead. But Rick Dempsey, who hit his 11th home run, didn’t need help behind the plate.

Neil Allen (7-2), who had pitched two consecutive shutouts, had his scoreless string stopped at 21 innings. Allen pulled a muscle in his side while warming up in the seventh and had to leave the game.

Texas 7, Cleveland 5--The top two hitters in the Rangers’ lineup did in the Indians at Arlington, Tex. Oddibe McDowell, the lead-off hitter, was 3 for 3 and scored three times. Scott Fletcher, in the No. 2 spot, was 4 for 5 and also scored three runs.

After the Indians fought back from a 5-0 deficit to tie, McDowell opened the seventh with a single, and Fletcher doubled. One out later, Pete Incaviglia singled home the winning run.

Although he gave up the two hits in the top of the seventh that enabled the Indians to catch up, Eric Harris (5-1) finished with two perfect innings to win it.

Minnesota 9, New York 5--Neal Heaton is convinced baseball is a strange game. The hard-throwing left-hander lost two 1-0 decisions in his three previous starts for the Twins.

In this one at New York, Heaton struggled through 5 innings, giving up four hits, four walks and two runs.

Gary Gaetti hit two home runs, Kirby Puckett another and the Twins scored six times in the second inning to make it easy for Heaton (4-9) to win for the first time since the Twins got him from Cleveland more than a month ago.

Gaetti, who drove in five runs, has 21 home runs.

Detroit 9, Kansas City 2--Dennis Leonard continues to struggle, and John Grubb continues to hit home runs. In this game at Detroit, Leonard failed for the ninth time since early June to gain a victory.

Grubb, not known for his power, hit a three-run home run off Leonard in the fourth inning. It was Grubb’s fifth home run in the last nine games.

Lance Parrish went 4 for 4 for the Tigers, including his 21st home run.

“My location wasn’t good,” Leonard said. “The Tigers’ was. They located one in the upper deck in right, another in the upper deck in left.”

Milwaukee 4, Seattle 2--Ted Higuera struck out 10 and gave up five hits in seven innings at Seattle to improve his record to 12-5.

Charlie Moore’s two-run double in the second inning gave Milwaukee the lead, and the Brewers scored two more in the fifth.

Oakland 6, Toronto 5--Carney Lansford led off the bottom of the 10th inning at Oakland with a home run, giving the A’s a victory over the Blue Jays. It was Lansford’s 10th home run. He connected off Bill Caudill (2-3), who had relieved to start the inning. Doug Bair (1-2) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory.