American League Roundup : Molitor Held in Check, but Not Brewers

While everyone was talking about the hitting streak of Paul Molitor, it went almost unnoticed that the Milwaukee Brewers had quietly slipped into the race in the American League East.

Although Molitor went hitless for the second time in the last three games Friday night at Milwaukee, the Brewers moved within six games of the division-leading Detroit Tigers with a 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Chris Bosio pitched a two-hitter, and former Dodger Greg Brock doubled in the only run in the fifth inning to give Bosio his first victory in exactly a month.

The Twins continue to be a poor road team. Their 43rd loss in their 67th game away from the Metrodome and their ninth in a row on the road dropped the Twins out of first place in the West. The Oakland A’s lead the West by a percentage point.

The Twins had been on top in the West since July 6. As recently as 10 days ago, they led Oakland by five games.

Since Molitor embarked on his 39-game hitting streak after the All-Star break, the Brewers have been the hottest team in the league with a 28-15 record.

“There is no doubt that Paul (Molitor) deserves much of the credit for us turning things around,” said teammate Robin Yount, who singled and scored the only run of the game. “The buildup was a little slow, but as his streak built, the fans began to come to the park, and the players started getting excited about playing. We aren’t out of it yet, even though there are three teams ahead of us.”

Molitor was 0 for 4, and his batting average dropped to .363, two points behind Wade Boggs. Molitor must make 121 plate appearances in the last 34 games to qualify for the batting title.

Molitor, who had his streak, the fifth longest in modern history, halted Wednesday night, was a bit puzzled by the Brewer fans.

Molitor was on deck when Rick Manning singled in the winning run in the 10th inning Wednesday night. The fans booed Manning because they wanted to see Molitor get one more chance to extend his streak.

“It shows you the distortion of priorities when the home team wins the game in extra innings and the crowd boos,” Molitor said. “But we have a chance to win the division, and that’s more important than any batting streak.”

Earlier Friday, Bosio’s attorney entered an innocent plea on behalf of the pitcher for an assault and battery charge stemming from an incident with a parking lot attendant July 19. The attendant claims that Bosio, a 6-foot 3-inch, 220-pound right-hander, punched him.

Until Friday night, Bosio was having a bad month. In five previous August starts, he was 0-3 and had an earned-run average of 8.23.

But in this one, he faced only 30 batters. He gave up a single to Greg Gagne in the second inning and to Kent Hrbek in the seventh, and both were retired on double plays.

“I needed it,” said Bosio, who threw 97 pitches and completed the shutout in just more than two hours. “I hadn’t been pitching smart. I’d get some strikeouts early and then try to blow everyone away with the fastball. Tonight I just relaxed.”

Oakland 3, Toronto 2--Dave Stewart, with late-inning help from Dennis Eckersley at Toronto, became the major leagues’ first 18-game winner and prevented the Blue Jays from taking over first place in the East.

Stewart (18-9) gave up 6 hits in 7 innings and beat Toronto for the second time in 10 days. He has won 11 of his last 13 decisions.

If Dave Stieb (13-7) had been able to handle Carney Lansford, he would have beaten Stewart. Stieb went the distance, giving up only five hits. Lansford had three of them. He hit a home run in the second inning for his third homer in three games. With the score tied, 2-2, Lansford led off the sixth with a double, went to third base on a fly to right field and scored on Dwayne Murphy’s shallow sacrifice fly to center.

The game, played in a steady rain for the first four innings, was delayed 39 minutes at the start.

Stewart, making a strong bid for the AL’s Cy Young Award, has beaten the Blue Jays four times this year.

Texas 5, Detroit 3--The Tigers seemed certain to increase their slender lead in the East. Going into the eighth inning at Detroit, they held a 3-1 lead and had the best finisher in the majors--Jack Morris--on the mound.

But Morris, who had pitched complete games in four of his previous five starts, fell apart after first baseman Dave Bergman booted Oddibe McDowell’s grounder to open the eighth.

Morris (15-7) gave up a game-tying home run to Ruben Sierra, his 27th, a single to Pete Incaviglia, a double to Pete O’Brien and a single to Larry Parrish, and his three-game winning streak was over.

Kansas City 9, Chicago 3--Danny Tartabull hit a two-run home run in the first inning at Chicago to help make the Royals 2-0 under new Manager John Wathan. Kansas City is also just two games behind Oakland in the tightening race in the West.

The Royals had 13 hits and made it easy for Charlie Leibrandt (13-9) to earn another victory, although he gave up 10 hits in 8 innings.

The Royals built an 8-0 lead before the White Sox scored.

Seattle 10, New York 4--Manager Dick Williams of the Mariners complained bitterly when Thursday night’s game at New York was postponed because of rain with his team leading in the third inning.

He had no objection to a 2 1/2-hour wait for the rain to stop before this one started. Especially not after Alvin Davis hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to break a tie and send the Mariners on their way to victory.