American League Roundup : K.C. Aiming to Hoist Another Flag

The Kansas City Royals are beginning to believe this just might be a special season.

Nobody is quite ready to predict a second world championship in three years, but the Royals see some good signs.

In a season in which their best hitter, George Brett, has spent most of it on the disabled list and their best power hitter, Steve Balboni, isn’t even hitting his weight, the Royals are hot.

Danny Tartabull hit two home runs, Bo Jackson hit one that carried 451 feet and Charlie Leibrandt pitched a four-hitter Friday night at Arlington, Tex., to lead the Royals to an 8-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.

With a 23-15 record, the Royals have a tight grip on first place in the West. They are doing it with young power hitters, Tartabull and Jackson, and two hot pitchers, Leibrandt and Bret Saberhagen.

Saberhagen is 7-1 on the comeback trail, while Leibrandt, a 14-game winner last season when the Royals were a dismal 76-86, is 6-2.

In his previous start, the 30-year-old left-hander beat Milwaukee with a one-hitter. He came right back with a four-hitter.

“What excites me,” Leibrandt said, “is that we’re doing this without any of our everyday players having what you would consider career years. You look around the clubhouse and nobody has numbers that reach out and grab you. It’s been very much a team effort.

“You have to think that if the pitching holds up and George (Brett) gets back in good shape, we could even get better.”

Tartabull, acquired from Seattle in the offseason, has recovered from nagging injuries and is starting to produce. His four runs-batted in in the game were a career high. He has five game-winning hits.

Royals player-coach Hal McRae also sees the possibility of the team improving.

“This club has great offensive potential,” he said. “We have something we haven’t had for awhile--guys with pop, with real strength.

“Next to George, Tartabull might have more natural hitting ability than any player we’ve ever had. Bo is Bo. He’s still learning, but I think he has as much overall talent as any player I’ve ever seen.”

Chicago 4, Boston 3--Roger Clemens is just not the pitcher he was a year ago when he had one of those once-in-a lifetime seasons.

In fact, when Carlton Fisk belted a one-out home run in the ninth inning at Boston, he handed the hard-throwing right-hander his fourth defeat. It took him all of last season when he went 24-4, to lose that many games.

It was the third complete game in a row for Clemens, but his record dropped to 3-4.

It is not unusual for Fisk to ruin the Red Sox. The home run was the 21st in 63 games against them since he left the Red Sox and signed with the White Sox as a free agent in 1981.

“It’s always nice to come back here,” Fisk said. “I always have liked playing in this park.”

Wade Boggs hit a two-run home run for the Red Sox in the first inning. It was his eighth and equals his career high. He has 122 games left in which to set a personal mark.

Milwaukee 4, Cleveland 2--Phil Niekro pitched a pretty good game at Milwaukee for an old man. The 48-year-old knuckleballer gave up just three hits in 6 innings for the Indians.

But two of them were to Cecil Cooper, one a home run. He also walked two batters in the seventh and both of them scored.

The win put the Brewers on another streak, a two-game winning streak.

Bill Wegman broke his four-game losing streak, going 8 innings for his third victory.

Detroit 3, Minnesota 2--Chet Lemon doubled home the tie-breaking run in the seventh inning at Minneapolis to keep Jack Morris’ unbeaten streak in his home state alive.

The 11th win was the sweetest. During the offseason, Morris, a free agent, tried to get the Twins to sign him. They wouldn’t.

“This is a little more satisfying than some of the others,” Morris (5-2) said. “They had a chance to sign me and didn’t want me.”

With the score tied, 2-2, Larry Herndon led off the seventh with a double off Frank Viola (2-5). One out later Lemon drilled a shot off the right-field wall. Those were half the hits given up by Viola, who went the distance.

Baltimore 10, Oakland 6--The Orioles continue to play long ball, and it paid off at Oakland. Eddie Murray and Fred Lynn each homered to lead the Orioles over the A’s.

Baltimore took a 4-0 lead in the first on singles by Lee Lacy and Jim Dwyer, a run-scoring double by Cal Ripken and Murray’s 12th home run of the season, a three-run shot to right.

The Orioles have homered in 14 consecutive games, Murray in nine of those. Baltimore has hit a major league record 38 homers in that span.

Toronto 7, Seattle 5--The Blue Jays hit five solo home runs in Seattle’s Kingdome, two each by George Bell and Kelly Gruber, but run-scoring singles by Willie Upshaw and Rick Leach proved to be the decisive hits.

With the Mariners leading 4-3, Gruber hit the first pitch of the seventh inning for his first home run of the season.