American League Roundup : Brewers, Back on Upswing, Beat Royals

Consistency is not a word the Milwaukee Brewers seem to understand. So far, this season has been one of streaks for the young team.

They opened on a hot streak, winning their first 13. A little later, they lost 12 in a row. At the moment, they are once again on the upswing.

Glenn Braggs drove in four runs with a pair of singles, and Cecil Cooper and Rob Deer each hit home runs Tuesday night at Milwaukee to lead the Brewers to a 14-3 rout of the Kansas City Royals, leaders of the West. It was the fourth win in a row in the latest roller-coaster ride.

The Brewers backed rookie Chuck Crim (3-1) with a 14-hit attack in his first major league start. Crim, a last-minute choice when Mike Birkbeck developed soreness in his shoulder while warming up, pitched a strong six innings before giving way to Mark Clear with a 9-1 lead.

“It’s an elusive thing to stay consistent with the bats,” Milwaukee Manager Tom Trebelhorn said. “Things are certainly looking better than they were when we went into the skid.

“Four in a row is nice. I just hope we can develop more consistency. We haven’t really talked about the success early or the problems in the middle.

“We can’t improve on what we did early, and you can’t change what we did in the middle. I know it’s a cliche but we’re just trying to get after each game as they come up.”

Kansas City starter Bud Black, who missed a couple of turns because of a knee problem, obviously wasn’t ready. Braggs’ two-run single with two-out in the first inning started Black’s downfall. He finally had to leave when the knee started hurting in the fourth.

The only run off Crim was Jamie Quirk’s first home run of the season in the third inning.

In the process of winning a game, the Brewers again lost Paul Molitor. Molitor, who missed 19 games because of a hamstring injury earlier in the season, strained a groin muscle scoring from second on Robin Yount’s single in the fourth and had to leave the game.

Baltimore 9, Oakland 2--A good way to emerge from a slump is to get the bottom hitters in your lineup to start hitting.

The Orioles accomplished this at Baltimore to end a four-game losing streak. The No. 6 hitter, Ray Knight, had two hits; the next two batters, Terry Kennedy and Larry Sheets, each hit home runs, and Rick Burleson (No. 9) had a double. The four scored eight of the Oriole runs.

They made it easy for Mike Boddicker (5-1) to breeze. Boddicker went eight innings, and former Dodger Tom Niedenfuer pitched the ninth, giving up a home run to Tony Phillips.

Chicago 15, Texas 5--The White Sox found out the hard way Monday night that leads don’t mean a thing in Arlington, Tex.

They took a five-run lead into the ninth inning, and the Rangers tied them. They took a two-run lead into the top of the 12th, only to have Oddibe McDowell hit a grand slam to beat them.

In this game, they took a 10-run lead into the ninth and, at last, they found a lead that would stand up.

Greg Walker, who hit two home runs in Monday’s loss, hit a grand slam in the second inning to break the game open. Walker went 3 for 3 and is 6 for 7 in the two games.

Charlie Hough (5-2), the Ranger ace, left just before Walker’s bases-loaded homer and was responsible for seven runs.

Toronto 4, Seattle 3--Silent George Bell hit his 17th home run to help the Blue Jays grab the lead at Toronto, then made a leaping catch to rob Scott Bradley of a three-run homer to save the game.

With two on and two out in the seventh, Bradley hit a Tom Henke pitch high and deep to left. Bell leaped high above the barrier to make the catch to prevent Seattle from taking a 6-4 lead.

Boston 6, Minnesota 5--Bill Buckner hit a two-run single with two out in the bottom of the ninth at Boston to give the Red Sox the victory.

The hit took Calvin Schiraldi (3-3) off the hook and made him a winner. It was Schiraldi’s wild pitch in the eighth that enabled the Twins to take a 5-4 lead.