American League Roundup : White Sox Southpaw Bannister Nearly Perfect in 9-1 Fenway Park Win

Floyd Bannister, just like most of the left-handers in the American League, doesn’t look forward to pitching in Fenway Park. The Green Monster that seems so close in left field is an inviting target for right-handed hitters.

But the 31-year-old Bannister forgot his fears Saturday, retired the first 17 batters he faced and settled for a two-hitter in pitching the Chicago White Sox to a 9-1 victory over the Red Sox at Boston.

Rich Gedman, notoriously weak against left-handed pitchers, lined a double to right with two out in the sixth inning to spoil Bannister’s gem. Ellis Burks ruined the shutout when he homered with two out in the ninth inning.

Manager Jim Fregosi of the White Sox thought right fielder Gary Redus should have caught the ball that Gedman hit.

“I was screaming at the official scorer about the ball Gedman hit,” Fregosi said. “I thought it should have been caught. If Redus catches it, Bannister pitches a perfect game, because Burks doesn’t get up in the ninth.”

Bannister didn’t feel too bad, however. After all, he improved his record to 3-3 and ended a personal 11-game losing streak against the Red Sox. He had lost seven of them at Fenway Park.

“I was just trying to make my pitches,” Bannister said. “I was aware of the no-hitter, but that takes a lot of luck.

“I thought I pitched extremely well. I’ve had a lot of misfortune against the Red Sox since I beat them in 1982. But once I broke a sweat warming up I was on the top of my game.”

The White Sox took the pressure off Bannister early. They pounded out 16 hits and gave Bannister a three-run cushion in the second inning when they knocked out Al Nipper (3-4).

The Boston defense collapsed in a three-run fourth. Fred Manrique, who had three hits, singled and Ozzie Guillen was credited with a single when second baseman Marty Barrett failed to cover first on his bunt. Later in the inning, Barrett slipped and couldn’t catch Greg Walker’s routine pop fly.

Baltimore 5, Oakland 4--The Orioles’ home run streak came to an end at Oakland after 14 games, so they resorted to singles to win again.

Cal Ripken Jr. and Terry Kennedy hit run-scoring singles in a four-run, eighth-inning rally that enabled the Orioles to overcome a poor performance by their newest relief pitcher, Tom Niedenfuer.

With one out in the ninth, the former Dodger right-hander walked three A’s in a row to load the bases. Don Aase gave up a two-out single to Alfredo Griffin that drove in two runs and cut the lead to 5-4. But center fielder Luis Polonia, who made an error in the Orioles’ four-run rally, flied out to end the game.

The Orioles hit 38 home runs in their 14-game streak.

The only homer in this game was by the A’s Mark McGwire. It was the league-leading 15th for the former USC slugger.

Niedenfuer, obtained earlier in the week in the trade that sent John Shelby to the Dodgers, retired four batters in a row before he lost control.

Cleveland 6, Milwaukee 2--The third start was the charm for Steve Carlton. In his previous two starts for the Indians, the 42-year-old left-hander left something to be desired.

But in this one at Milwaukee Carlton pitched a six-hitter and overcame wildness to post his 326th career victory. Carlton walked six batters and struck out five.

It was his third victory this season and was his first complete game since August, 1984, when he pitched for Philadelphia.

Carlton threw 156 pitches. “I needed to pitch that long to help get my arm in shape,” he said. “It’s like I’m just completing spring training.”

The Indians jumped on Mike Birkbeck for all their runs and eight hits in 5 innings.

Toronto 6, Seattle 2--Jim Clancy (7-2) completed his sixth consecutive victory with a flourish at Seattle. He struck out the last five batters.

Clancy didn’t walk a batter, gave up six hits and struck out eight, seven of them in the last three innings.

The Blue Jays, holding only a 2-1 lead, broke it open with three unearned runs in the fifth. Kelly Gruber’s third home run, all in the last two games, completed the scoring in the ninth.

Texas 6, Kansas City 4--Charlie Hough pitched a seven-hitter and struck out nine at Arlington, Tex., to win his fourth in a row.

Most of Hough’s trouble was with Steve Balboni. The slugging first baseman had hit only three home runs this season. But he hit two off Hough (4-1) to drive in three runs.

Bob Brower, Larry Parrish and Don Slaught hit home runs for the Rangers. It was the third for Brower and all have come when he was the Rangers’ first batter of the game.

Parrish’s home run was his 10th, Slaught’s his sixth. Both came off reliever Dave Gumpert.

Minnesota 7, Detroit 5--Kent Hrbek and Gary Gaetti hit home runs at Minneapolis and Tom Brunansky scored three times for the Twins.

Allan Anderson, with relief help from George Frazier and Jeff Reardon, gained his first victory.

Reardon relieved Frazier with one out in the eighth after Kirk Gibson’s two-run homer cut the lead to 7-5. Reardon got the last five outs, three of them on strikeouts, for his ninth save.