Baseball Roundup : Righetti Gets Record 46th Save for Yankees

Dave Righetti couldn’t wait for the phone to ring, and he answered the call both times.

Righetti set a major league record with his 45th and 46th saves Saturday at Boston by pitching in both games as the New York Yankees swept a doubleheader, 5-3 and 3-1, from the Boston Red Sox.

With saves in three consecutive games against the Red Sox, Righetti broke the record of 45 set by Kansas City’s Dan Quisenberry in 1983 and equaled by Bruce Sutter of St. Louis in 1984.

“I have to thank those guys for making this such a meaningful goal, something I can enjoy,” Righetti said. “I wanted to go for it. I was hoping the phone in the bullpen would ring so I could get up and throw. I just had to be careful not to trip in a hole on the way out.”

Righetti came in to get the final out of the second game and set the record.

New York’s Don Mattingly hit his 30th homer and went 1 for 5 in the second game, after going 3 for 5 in the opener, leaving his average at .351--six points behind league leader Wade Boggs, who missed both games due to a hamstring injury.

Cleveland 6, Seattle 5--At Cleveland, Julio Franco homered, doubled and singled, and Joe Carter drove in his American League-leading 120th run as the Indians sent the Mariners to their eighth consecutive loss.

Seattle’s Mark Langston (12-14) struck out nine and raised his season total to 245, taking over the league lead from Roger Clemens of Boston. Clemens, who has struck out 238, won’t pitch again in the regular season.

Kansas City 2, Oakland 0--Mark Gubicza and Bud Black held the A’s to five hits at Oakland.

Minnesota 7, Chicago White Sox 3--Greg Gagne tied a major league record held by several players by hitting two inside-the-park home runs for the Twins at Minneapolis.

Bert Blyleven (17-14) pitched his 16th complete game and allowed a home run by Carlton Fisk, increasing the record he set earlier in the week to 50 in a season.

Detroit 11, Baltimore 4--Kirk Gibson and Mike Heath hit three-run homers, and Bryan Kelly got his first major league victory, at Baltimore.

N.Y. Mets 6-5, Pittsburgh 1-2--The Mets swept the Pirates at New York to set a team record with 54 victories at home. They broke the record set in 1969, when the Mets had a 52-30 home record. The Mets also set a record by going 16-1 against the Pirates this season.

Bob Ojeda (18-5) became the winningest member of the Mets’ staff in the opener.

Chicago Cubs 8, St. Louis 7--Rafael Palmeiro and Brian Dayett drove in two runs each as the Cubs beat the Cardinals in the first game of a doubleheader at Chicago. The second game was postponed by darkness and rescheduled as part of another doubleheader today.

Philadelphia 5, Montreal 4--John Russell singled home the winning run with two out in the 14th inning to give the Phillies the victory at Philadelphia.

National League batting leader Tim Raines of Montreal went 2 for 7, and his average slipped to .334 going into today’s final game.

Cincinnati 10, San Diego 7--Tony Perez, who retires after today’s game, hit the 379th home run of his career as the Reds outslugged the Padres at Cincinnati.

Houston 3, Atlanta 2--Jim Deshaies set an Astro rookie record with his 12th victory as the Astros turned back the Braves at Houston.

AMERICAN LEAGUE BATTING RACE

WADE BOGGS, Boston

Saturday Season AB R H G AB R H Avg DID NOT PLAY 149 580 107 207 .357

DON MATTINGLY, N.Y. Yankees

Saturday Season AB R H G AB R H Avg 10 2 4 161 672 116 236 .351

* two games