American League Roundup : Stewart Has Been Pleasant Surprise for the A’s

Dave Stewart, once considered a prize prospect by the Dodgers, has made the most of what probably was his last chance.

The hard-throwing right-hander was released by the Philadelphia Phillies last spring, apparently washed up at 29. His future appeared to be in Japan until the Oakland A’s offered him a job with their Tacoma farm club in the Pacific Coast League.

The A’s brought him up as their long reliever and “give up” pitcher. It was not until July, after injuries decimated the staff that the A’s finally gave him a start.

He has rewarded the A’s by being their best pitcher for the last six weeks.

Helped by the bats of Alfredo Griffin and Mickey Tettleton, Stewart pitched the A’s to an 11-4 victory over the Yankees Sunday at New York.

Griffin hit a bases-loaded triple to break the game open in the eighth and Tettleton, who walked with the bases loaded twice earlier, hit a three-run home run in the ninth to complete the rout.

In improving his record to 7-1, Stewart went the distance for the first time in almost two years. Stewart gave up seven hits, including Mike Pagliarulo’s 28th home run.

Stewart was 0-0 with an earned-run average above 6.00 when he was given his first start July 7 against the Boston Red Sox and went six innings in a 6-4 victory. He has had no easy marks since, either. His seven victories have been at the expense of the contenders in the East and the Angels, the leaders of the West.

Manager Tony LaRussa, until just recently, wasn’t sure whether he wanted Stewart as a starter or a reliever, but he has won his last three starts and may have made the decision for the manager.

“He’s done a job for us,” LaRussa said. “He is one of the highlights of our season. He definitely has a future with the A’s.”

Tettleton was supposed to have the day off, but he walked with the bases loaded in the sixth and stayed in the game to become the star.

The Yankees remained six games behind the Red Sox in the East, missing chances to gain ground the last two days. Manager Lou Piniella of the Yanks said he didn’t want to talk about the Red Sox.

The Yankees have been talking about the Red Sox folding up, but, as of the moment, the rest of the East is doing the folding.

Cleveland 5, Boston 2--After Phil Niekro pitched the Indians to this win at Cleveland, Don Baylor of the Red Sox marveled at the ability of the 47-year-old right-hander.

“He didn’t have his real good knuckleball and he didn’t have his good control, but still he won,” Baylor said. “I played with him and know what a competitor he is. I wish that all young pitchers would have the chance to be on a club with him to see how dedicated he is and how he goes about his job.”

Niekro (10-9) gave up five hits and walked four in seven innings. Although he has a 4.20 ERA for the season, he is 7-3, with a 3.30 ERA in the last 90 innings. He went into this season with 300 victories and joined the Indians after the Yankees released him.

Joe Carter and Julio Franco each slugged two-run homers for the Indians, who trail the Red Sox by 9 1/2 games with 37 games left.

Texas 3, Chicago 2--Charlie Hough and Mitch Williams combined on a four-hitter and catcher Don Slaught drove in the winning run with a fifth-inning single as the Rangers won their ninth games in as many tries against the White Sox this season.

Hough (11-8) allowed four hits, one earned run, struck out eight and walked two in 6 innings. Mitch Williams retired the last seven batters for his fifth save.

Reliever Mike Schmidt (1-5), who replaced starter Joe Cowley in the second, was the loser. Cowley went one inning plus four batters in the second and allowed two runs on four hits, including Larry Parrish’s 20th homer.

Pete Incaviglia started the winning rally in the fifth with one-out walk. After Ruben Sierra struck out, Parrish beat out a bouncer to deep short and Slaught singled Incaviglia home with the winner.

Toronto 7, Minnesota 5--Ernie Whitt singled in the tie-breaking run in the top of the 10th at Minneapolis and Rick Leach singled in two more to move the Blue Jays into third place in the East, 6 1/2 games back.

Tom Henke (8-3) gave up the tying run in the ninth on a looping two-out single by Roy Smalley, and another in the 10th, but was the winner.

Kent Hrbek hit his 26th home run to get the Twins off to a 3-1 lead in the first inning.

Seattle 3, Detroit 1--The Tigers knocked left-hander Mark Langston down and out at Detroit, but they couldn’t beat him.

Langston, shrugged off Tom Brookens’ line drive that bounced off his shins to strike out eight Tigers and give up seven hits in seven innings.

But, Langston (11-10) had to depart when Larry Herndon opened the eighth inning with a line drive that hit Langston in his left shoulder and flattened him.

Milwaukee 3, Kansas City 2--Paul Molitor and Robin Yount doubled on consecutive pitches in the 11th inning at Milwaukee to beat Dan Quisenberry.

Although he didn’t get the win, Ted Higuera of the Brewers struck out a career-high 13 and gave up just seven hits in 10 innings.