American League Roundup : Boggs Gives Red Sox Needed Spark

Of all the decisions he has made this season, it could be that Boston Manager John McNamara made his best one--the one that could mean a division title--last Wednesday.

That was the day McNamara decided to shuffle his batting order and move one of baseball’s best hitters, Wade Boggs, into the leadoff spot.

Suddenly, Boggs is hitting the way he did in early June, when he was above .400, and the Red Sox are scoring runs.

In his third game as the leadoff batter Saturday night at Detroit, Boggs went 4 for 4, scored three runs and drove in another as the Red Sox outlasted the Tigers, 8-7, for their third victory in a row.

Boggs is 9 for 10, has been on base 15 of 16 times at bat, has scored seven runs and has driven in two runs in the three games. The Red Sox, who scored only one run in the two games before McNamara juggled his lineup, have scored 23 runs in three games and have built their lead in the American League East back to five games. Boggs, who lost his league batting lead for a day last week, has raised his average to .356.

With Boggs the offensive trigger, and Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman hitting home runs, the Red Sox built a 6-1 lead for Al Nipper through six innings. The Tigers narrowed the gap to 6-4 in the seventh, but the Red Sox scored twice in the top of the eighth. The Tigers got three more in the bottom of the eighth before Calvin Schiraldi came on to nail down the save.

The Red Sox jumped on Frank Tanana (9-5) for six runs and seven hits and handed him his first loss since June 1.

Boggs has had to overcome injury and personal tragedy to once again become the smooth-swinging career .351 hitter that he was in his first four seasons.

The left-handed-hitting third baseman was batting .404 on June 6. The next day, while swinging at a pitch, he injured his ribs. While Boggs was recovering from his injury, his mother was killed in an automobile accident.

Because he thought the Red Sox needed him, Boggs came back sooner than he should have. Slowly, but steadily, his average dropped. Early this week, it fell to .342. Then came the experiment by McNamara.

New York 3, Kansas City 2--When Bret Saberhagen walked off the mound in the second inning at New York, he might have took with him what hopes the Royals had of repeating as World Series champions.

After 37 pitches, Saberhagen’s shoulder, a source of the 22-year-old right-hander’s troubles all season, stiffened once again.

Although he escaped the loss, Saberhagen (6-10), gave up two runs, including Mike Pagliarulo’s 26th home run, in 1 innings.

Bud Black, who had pitched two shutout innings of relief, served up a home run ball to Don Pasqua, the first hitter in the bottom the ninth, and the Yankees had their fourth win in a row over the Royals.

Saberhagen, the former Cleveland High School star, was only 21 when he compiled a 20-6 record last season. He won the Cy Young Award and two World Series games.

Except for two early-season shutouts, it has been a miserable year for Saberhagen. The shoulder problem has flared up several times. After he had to leave a game with Baltimore July 22, the Royals took him out of the rotation. He thought he was ready. But after striking out Joel Skinner for the second out of the second inning Saturday, he took himself out of the game.

The Royals are 12 games back of the Angels in the West.

Texas 7, Toronto 6--The Rangers are making believers of everyone. Pete O’Brien’s second home run of the game came in the 10th inning at Arlington, Tex., as Texas fought from behind for the fourth consecutive game to pull out a victory.

The Blue Jays held a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the eighth. O’Brien hit a two-run home run to cut the deficit in half. In the ninth, Darrell Porter doubled in one run, and Oddibe McDowell singled home the tying run.

O’Brien hit a 3-and-0 pitch from Bill Caudill to win it.

Milwaukee 1, Chicago 0--There isn’t a sharper pitcher in the American League than Ted Higuera of the Brewers right now. In this game at Milwaukee, he pitched a seven-hitter, struck out nine and improved his record to 15-7 for the last-place club in the East.

It was another tough loss for Jose DeLeon (2-1). The game’s only run came in the third inning when DeLeon made a wild pitch with Jim Gantner on third base. DeLeon gave up only three hits.

Minnesota 9, Oakland 2--Frank Viola shut down power hitters Dave Kingman and Jose Canseco with breaking stuff at Oakland and gave up just two hits in seven innings to improve his record to 12-8.

Kingman had hit six home runs in the previous five games, and Canseco had hit two.

“I got them started last Sunday, when they hit back-to-back homers, so it was up to me to stop them,” Viola said. “I threw only a couple of fastballs to Canseco and none at all to Kingman.”

Cleveland 8, Baltimore 2--Just a few days ago, the Orioles had jumped into contention, 2 1/2 games out of first place in the East. Suddenly, they are six games back.

In this game at Baltimore, Cory Snyder and Brett Butler hit home runs, and Joe Carter added a two-run double as the Indians handed the Orioles their fourth loss in a row.