American League Roundup : Pitchers Continue to Keep Yankees on Top, 4-0

While it is generally thought that the weak department on the New York Yankees is their pitching, Manager Lou Piniella has continued to believe in the ability of his mound staff.

Partly because of injuries, the vaunted Yankee offense is struggling, and it is the pitching that is keeping New York on top in the American League East.

Steve Trout and two relievers held the Kansas City Royals to six hits Wednesday at New York, and Mike Easler hit a three-run double in the eighth inning to pace the Yankees to a 4-0 victory.

Their third win in a row enabled the Yankees to increase their division lead to 1 1/2 games over Detroit and 2 over Toronto. The pitchers yielded only three runs in the three games.

In his third start since coming from the Chicago Cubs, Trout again failed to get a victory. But he pitched six scoreless innings and set it up for Tim Stoddard to get the win and Dave Righetti his 19th save.

The Yankees have scored only 29 runs in the last 10 games with what is supposed to be the best offense in the league.

“We’ve got some key guys who are hurt,” Piniella said, citing injuries to Rickey Henderson, Claudell Washington and Ron Kittle, “but I know we’ll start hitting again.

“I’ve said all along that I like our pitching. Besides, baseball runs in cycles. Sometimes you score a lot of runs and your pitching is subpar, and sometimes, like now, you struggle at the plate and your pitchers pick up the slack.”

The Royals, battling to stay in the race in the West, have been in a down cycle all season when it comes to scoring runs. In losing for the 16th time in their last 20 games, the Royals were shut out for the 13th time this season.

It was another frustrating loss at Yankee Stadium. Since the celebrated Pine Tar Game of 1983, when George Brett of the Royals was cited for having too much pine tar on his bat, the Royals are 3-20 in New York.

Danny Jackson was once again the victim of nonsupport. His string of innings without giving up an earned run ended at 16 when two singles and a sacrifice fly produced the first Yankee run in the seventh. Jackson (4-13) gave up four singles and struck out eight in 7 innings. In 14 of his 22 starts, the Royals have scored two runs or less.

In his first two starts with the Yankees, Trout was hammered for 10 runs in 11 innings. He said he was trying too hard. “I relaxed today,” he said. “I was fairly happy with my performance.”

Seattle 8, Minnesota 3--Alvin Davis doesn’t just hit home runs off Mike Smithson of the Twins, he hits booming blasts.

Davis unloaded a pair of long home runs, each with a man aboard at Seattle. His second one, in the fifth inning, carried into the third deck in right field at the Kingdome. Davis, who has hit six home runs in four seasons against Smithson, also hit one into the third deck against the Twins’ 6-8 right-hander.

Davis’ slugging enabled Lee Gutterman (9-2) to coast to the victory.

The Mariners, not ready to concede, are only five games behind in the tight race in the West.

Chicago 4, Detroit 0--Floyd Bannister continued his mastery over the Tigers, pitching a five-hitter at Detroit to end the Tigers’ five-game winning streak.

Bannister has beaten the Tigers seven times in a row. The last time he lost to them was on April 7, 1984, when Jack Morris, the loser of this one, pitched a no-hitter.

It was a 1-0 game until the eighth when Greg Walker doubled in a run and Jerry Hairston followed with a two-run home run.

Morris (12-5) was making his fifth attempt to win his 13th game.

Boston 6, Toronto 5--The Blue Jays know that Tom Henke, big and strong though he is, can’t be used every night. They save him for games in which they are ahead in the late innings.

In this game at Toronto, however, they were tied in the eighth inning--and the rest of the bullpen couldn’t hold the Red Sox. Mark Eichhorn, brilliant early in the season in relief, walked Marty Barrett with the bases loaded to force in the winning run.

Rookie Sam Horn hit his third home run in five games for the Red Sox. He drove in three runs, giving him eight.

George Bell hit two home runs for the Blue Jays and has 32 this season. Both came with nobody on base.

Baltimore 7, Cleveland 4--Mike Young hit a two-run home run, then scored the winning run in the seventh inning at Cleveland on an error by third baseman Brook Jacoby.

Jacoby, who hit his 20th home run in the first inning, booted Billy Ripken’s grounder with two on to pave the way for a three-run rally that gave the Orioles their 12th win in the last 14 games.

It was the third win in a row for Eric Bell (9-7), who went the distance although reached for 10 hits.

Milwaukee 9, Texas 8--Dale Sveum, who thought he had won the game in the ninth inning with a home run at Arlington, Tex., singled home the winning run in the 12th in a wild battle.

Sveum’s home run gave the Brewers an 8-7 lead, but in the bottom of the ninth, Ruben Sierra singled home Steve Buechele to send the game into extra innings.