American League Roundup : Saberhagen Needs Bit of Help This Time and Gets His 9th Win, 12-7

It was his worst performance since his shoulder was bothering him last season, but Bret Saberhagen could thank his teammates for allowing him to become the first pitcher to win nine games this season.

The 23-year-old right-hander from Reseda staggered through 5 innings, giving up 7 runs and 10 hits, but his teammates scored even more, beating Texas, 12-7, Saturday night at Kansas City.

Saberhagen went into the game with a 8-1 record and an earned-run average of 1.66, both best in the majors. The Royals gave him seven runs to work with in the first two innings and he barely lasted long enough to be eligible for the win. By the time he departed, his ERA had soared to 2.33.

He gave up four runs in third, two more in the fourth, then Pete O’Brien tagged him for a home run in the fifth to cut his lead to 10-7. It was the fourth consecutive game in which O’Brien has homered.

Thad Bosley and Kevin Seitzer each drove in three runs for the Royals, who pounded out 18 hits. Everybody in the Royals’ lineup had at least one hit and all but Jose Tartabull, Juan Beniquez and Bo Jackson had two or more. Jackson’s hit was a two-run double.

Saberhagen pitched complete game victories in three of his previous four starts. In his one defeat at Baltimore May 14, he gave up three earned runs in seven innings.

“I guess I was a smart pitcher tonight,” Saberhagen said. “I gave up a lot of runs on a night when we scored a lot of runs.

“Maybe this is the best thing to happen to me this year. Maybe I was walking on Cloud 9 and this will bring me back to earth.”

Texas Manager Bobby Valentine noted the irony for his team.

“You spot a team seven runs and make the hot pitcher leave after five innings,” he said. “The offense was there. The pitching wasn’t. I’ll just have to keep going to the bullpen until this bad string ends.”

Oakland 4, New York 3--The Niekro brothers don’t make very good rooting sections as they try to become baseball’s winningest brother combination.

Last Wednesday, Joe showed up at Boston and older brother Phil, although he pitched superbly, and his Cleveland Indians lost, 1-0.

Phil returned the favor in this game at New York. The Yankees gave Joe a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

The Athletics got one back in the fourth on Terry Steinbach’s homer, then rallied for three in the sixth to beat Joe. Mike Davis opened with a home run and Tony Phillips hit a two-run, two-out double to chase Joe and give the Athletics the victory.

With the two most recent failures, the Niekros remain tied with Jim and Gaylord Perry with 529 victories.

“Phil being here didn’t bother me,” Joe said. “It’s not harder to have your brother here. We wanted to be together when we broke the record. We both have other things to do. This could go on for a month. It’s frustrating to be ahead, 3-0, and lose.”

The victory went to Joaquin Andujar (1-0). He gave up six hits and all three runs in the five innings he worked. He gave up the runs and two of the hits in the first inning. It was his longest outing of the season.

Seattle 12, Baltimore 0--The Orioles, who have hit home runs at a record pace this month, couldn’t even score a run against Mike Morgan at Baltimore, and it was the Mariners hitting the home runs.

While Morgan (5-5) pitched a seven-hitter for his second major league shutout, Jim Presley hit two home runs, his first following a home run by Dave Valley in the fourth inning.

The Mariners drove Eric Bell (5-2) to cover in the sixth and pounded out 15 hits on their way to taking over second place in the West.

With one game remaining in May, the Orioles have hit 57 home runs in the month.

Chicago 3, Boston 2--Harold Baines didn’t hit the ball out of the infield in the first nine innings at Chicago, but it was a different story in the 10th.

With two out and Jerry Royster on first, Baines sliced a double to left that skipped past Jim Rice as Royster raced home with the winning run.

“When I went up there, I wanted to pull the ball,” said Baines, a left-handed swinger. “But he (Wes Gardner) threw everything away from me and I had to adjust my swing and go to left field. The ball just kept slicing away from Rice.”

Milwaukee 6, Cleveland 5--Manager Tom Trebelhorn wasn’t around to see B. J. Surhoff deliver the single in the 10th inning at Cleveland that ended the Brewers’ six-game losing streak.

After Cecil Cooper led off the extra inning with a double, Rob Deer struck out. Scott Bailes came in to pitch to Surhoff and Trebelhorn, unhappy with plate umpire Steve Palermo’s calls all day, got himself ejected.

With the manager gone, Surhoff drilled an 0-and-2 pitch to right to drive in Cooper and give Mark Clear (4-1) the victory. Dan Plesac walked a batter and gave up a hit in the bottom of the 10th, but he also had two strikeouts and earned his 11th save.