American League Roundup : Higuera Runs String of Scoreless Innings to 28 With 2-Hitter

Ted Higuera pitched his third consecutive outstanding game, holding the heavy-hitting Minnesota Twins to two hits in Milwaukee’s 6-0 victory Sunday at Minneapolis.

In the three games, all shutouts, the 28-year-old left-hander gave up only 6 hits in 28 innings.

Last Tuesday, a bloop triple in the eighth inning was the only hit he gave up at Kansas City. On Aug. 26, he gave up three hits in a 1-0, 10-inning victory over Cleveland.

Sunday’s two-hitter, which improved his record to 15-9, may have been the best of the three games. The Metrodome is a hitter’s park. Pitching a shutout is almost impossible.

There was no suspense in this one, however. Kirby Puckett singled in the first inning, and Mark Davidson singled in the third. Higuera retired the final 16 batters and has a scoreless string of 28 innings.

Rob Deer drove in four runs with a three-run homer and a single, and Glenn Braggs and Bill Schroeder also homered for the Brewers. But it wasn’t a one-sided game.

Veteran Steve Carlton gave up just three hits in seven innings but left trailing, 2-0.

Deer’s 27th home run broke it open in the eighth.

Higuera, a native of Mexico, speaks little English, but he did say that he felt much better than he did Tuesday when he was suffering from the flu while pitching his one-hitter. Manager Tom Trebelhorn, whose pitchers have yielded only eight runs in the last six games, was the designated spokesman.

“I don’t think it’s easy for anyone to throw a shutout in this place,” Trebelhorn said. “He’s located the ball consistently real, real well. He’s in a pretty good groove.

“We’re not swinging the bats as well as we could, so we need the kind of pitching Teddy has been giving us. If you can’t score, you need great pitching. We got that from Teddy.”

It is rather surprising that Higuera is a 15-game winner for the third consecutive season, because he went through a two-month slump. From April 24 until June 28, Higuera made 12 starts and registered only one victory.

In his last 14 starts, he is 10-2. At the moment there is not a more effective pitcher in either league.

Higuera had seven strikeouts and tied his club record of 207 set last season when he was a 20-game winner. He pitched his 11th complete game and ended a string of nine Milwaukee losses in a row at the Metrodome.

Texas 9, Detroit 3--Larry Parrish drove in three runs, and Scott Fletcher scored three runs at Arlington, Tex., as the Rangers knocked the Tigers out of first place in the AL East.

The Tigers fell a half-game behind Toronto, the first time since Aug. 19 that Detroit has been out of first place.

Jose Guzman (12-11) pitched eight innings for Texas, giving up six hits, walking four and striking out a career-high nine batters.

Steve Buechele hit his 11th homer in the fourth inning, when the Rangers chased Jeff Robinson (9-6) with three runs to build a 6-2 lead.

Matt Nokes hit his 27th homer for the Tigers.

Toronto 3, Seattle 2--Willie Upshaw spent some time at the movies, and it helped him snap out of a slump.

Upshaw drove in two runs at Toronto, including the game-winner with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the 11th inning.

“Before Friday’s game, I looked at my films from ‘83, when I drove in 103 runs, to check my hand movement,” Upshaw said. “I saw that my hands used to be a lot calmer and I’m trying to keep them still. I have been doing a better job of it.”

Friday night he hit a two-run home run, his first home run in more than a month, and he doubled in a run in the Blue Jays’ 3-0 win Saturday.

He hit the first pitch from reliever Ed Nunez off the fence in left-center for his eighth game-winning RBI and extended Toronto’s winning streak to five games.

George Bell hit his league-leading 43rd home run in the sixth.

Baltimore 7, Oakland 6--The Athletics missed a chance to move within two games of first place in the West. They led, 6-5, with one out in the bottom of the ninth at Baltimore.

But pinch-hitter Jim Dwyer hit Dennis Eckersley’s first pitch for a two-run home run and the Athletics were losers again.

Dwyer’s 14th home run made a winner out of Tom Niedenfuer. The former Dodger improved his record to 3-3 by getting the last two outs in the top of the ninth.

Mark McGwire hit his 42nd home run, driving in his 100th run in the first inning.

The Orioles, with Larry Sheets driving in three runs on his 27th home run and a double, built a 4-1 lead. But an error by shortstop Cal Ripken opened the way for five Athletic runs in the seventh.

Chicago 5, Kansas City 4--Carlton Fisk, who will be 40 later this year, used the element of surprise to set up the winning run in the 11th inning at Kansas City.

With two out in the top of the inning, Fisk drew a walk. He then shocked the Royals by stealing second. Steve Lyons followed with a single and Fisk sped home.

The Royals missed a chance to win it in the 10th and gain ground on Minnesota. With the bases loaded and one out, Bill Pecota popped up on the suicide squeeze and Bo Jackson, who opened the inning with a walk, was easily doubled off third.

Cleveland 3, Boston 1--Cory Snyder, who entered the game with only 5 hits in his last 47 at-bats, hit his 31st home run in the second inning at Boston.

The blow started rookie Darrel Akerfelds on his way to his second win in six decisions.

Akerfelds gave up 6 hits in 6 innings.