American League Roundup : Brewers’ Losing Streak Reaches Dozen; White Sox Win, 5-1

It is hard to top the Milwaukee Brewers when it comes to streaking.

The team that startled the baseball world by winning its first 13 games, is about to match that record in reverse.

Carlton Fisk and Greg Walker each hit a two-run home run Tuesday night at Milwaukee to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 5-1 victory over the Brewers, who have lost 12 in a row.

Jose DeLeon (4-3) gave up five hits in seven innings to gain the victory.

Ted Higuera, who was the toast of Milwaukee when he won his first four decisions in April, went the distance and had a career-high 13 strikeouts. However, he gave up the home runs and lost his third in a row.

The Brewers have stopped scoring. In the 12 defeats in succession, they have scored only 25 runs.

Maybe, the Brewers never believed their early success, because they don’t seem to be too perturbed by the turn of luck.

“Maybe we need a seance,” said Manager Tom Treblehorn, who was becoming a household name a month ago. “We’ve made some pitchers look awfully good. Some of them came in against us with earned-run averages above five and held us to one or two runs.

“We’ve had opportunities to do things, but we just can’t get an important hit. When we were winning, we were getting the timely hit. It’s as simple as that.”

During the winning streak, the Brewers averaged more than six runs per game.

“Our confidence and morale is dropping with our batting averages,” Treblehorn said. “It’s tough, all things considered, to ask even way-above average athletes not to show human nature and react to the situation. There are no easy answers.”

Baltimore 15, Seattle 4--The Orioles hit three more home runs in a 19-hit barrage at Seattle to set a major league record with 34 home runs in 12 games.

Larry Sheets, Jim Dwyer and Ken Gerhart hit the homers to give Jeff Ballard his first victory. Ballard gave up eight hits in seven innings, including home runs by Phil Bradley and Dave Valle.

Kansas City 4, Boston 1--Bret Saberhagen pitched a six-hitter at Kansas City to become the American League’s first seven-game winner and give the Royals their fifth win in a row.

Saberhagen allowed his run in fourth. He opened the inning by hitting Don Baylor with a pitch, the 233rd time Baylor has been hit. Singles by Jim Rice and Bill Buckner brought Baylor around. It was Buckner’s 2,500th hit.

Saberhagen, coming back from an injury-plagued 1986 season, has a 7-1 record and an earned-run average of 1.75.

Last season, Saberhagen was 7-12 with an ERA of 4.15. When he won the Cy Young Award in 1985, he was 20-6 with an ERA of 2.87.

“My arm was tired and my curveball was weak,” Saberhagen said. “I don’t think it was my best stuff, but I’ll take it.”

Texas 10, Detroit 8--The Rangers spotted the Tigers an 8-2 lead at Arlington, Tex., then fought back to end Detroit’s six-game winning streak.

The Rangers cut the lead to 8-7 in the eighth, and with two out in the inning, Ruben Sierra singled and Oddibe McDowell walked. Larry Parrish, given a hit sign on a 3-and-0 pitch, hit his ninth home run to put Texas ahead.

Pete Incaviglia of the Rangers and Mike Heath of the Tigers became involved in an altercation that resulted in both benches being emptied in the fifth inning. Incaviglia was ejected.

Cleveland 4, Minnesota 3--Cory Snyder hopes he has finally come out of his slump.

After getting only 6 hits in 68 at-bats, Snyder hit a two-run home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth at Cleveland to give the Indians a victory. Snyder struck out 26 times during his slump. It was his sixth home run, but his first since April 21.

Before the game, teammates had to restrain Ernie Camacho of the Indians from charging Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Livingston had written that Camacho was a “walking torch” in the bullpen.

Oakland 4, New York 2--Rookie Mark McGwire hit his league-leading 13th home run, and Dennis Eckersley sparkled in relief at Oakland.

Eckersley gave up just two hits in 4 innings to gain the victory. Steve Ontiveros made his first start after 93 relief appearances, but needed help with one out in the fifth.