American League Roundup : Darrell Porter Does It All as Rangers Down Twins, 4-1

Designated hitter Darrell Porter had three hits to drive in all of the Texas Rangers’ runs in a 4-1 victory over Minnesota and Bert Blyleven Friday night at Arlington, Tex.

Porter was a little surprised by his performance.

“I told one of the guys that I might be in for a long night after the way I swung the bat in batting practice,” he said after leading the Rangers to their fourth straight victory. “But Blyleven kept falling behind in the count and had to come at me with his fastball.”

Porter doubled home a run in the first, singled in another in the third and hit his 12th homer in the fifth with a man aboard off Blyleven. (15-13). The homer was the 45th given up this season by Blyleven, one shy of the major league record held by Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The winner Friday night was Charlie Hough (14-10), who allowed six hits in going the distance for the fifth time this season, but the first time since July 1. His complete game was the first by a Ranger pitcher since July 8.

Toronto 6, Boston 4--Dave Stieb survived a shaky start and went on to combine with two relievers on a nine-hitter at Toronto to lead the Blue Jays to a victory that halted the Red Sox’s winning streak at four and reduced their American League East lead to 9 1/2 games.

Stieb, after throwing 30 pitches in Boston’s two-run first inning, lasted only six innings. But he improved his record to 6-11 by allowing only two runs on five hits.

Detroit 8, New York 3--Alan Trammell hit his 20th home run to help the Tigers win at Detroit. Chet Lemon also homered for the Tigers and right-hander Dan Petry (5-8) earned his first victory since elbow surgery in June.

Baltimore 3, Milwaukee 1--Cal Ripken drove in two runs and rookie Ken Gerhart hit his first major-league homer to back Ken Dixon’s six-hitter as the Orioles won at Baltimore. The victory marked the first time the Orioles have won back-to-back games since Aug. 22-23.

Oakland 5, Cleveland 1--American League RBI leader Jose Canseco drove in two runs, Dave Kingman hit a two-run homer and Curt Young (12-8) pitched a four-hitter at Oakland as the A’s beat the Indians for the first time this season. Oakland is now 1-10 against Cleveland this season.

Seattle 6, Kansas City 5--John Moses scored from third on rookie Dave Hengel’s RBI fielder’s choice with one out in the ninth inning as the Mariners won at Seattle.