Baseball Roundup : Molitor, Brewers Cut Tigers’ Lead to One Game

Paul Molitor broke out of a hitting slump with two doubles, a single, a walk and three stolen bases, and Glenn Braggs drove in two runs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3, Thursday night at Milwaukee.

The loss cut first-place Detroit’s lead over idle Toronto to one game in the American League East. Both teams have 23 games to play, including 7 against each other in the last 11 games.

Molitor, who had only 9 hits in 57 at-bats since his 39-game hitting streak was snapped Aug. 26, singled in the first inning, stole second base and scored on Braggs’ single. Molitor has 38 steals this season.

Molitor doubled to begin a three-run Milwaukee third off Detroit starter Frank Tanana (13-10). Molitor stole third and scored on Braggs’ infield single.

Ex-Dodger Greg Brock, Rob Deer and Bill Schroeder singled for two more runs before Tanana was replaced by Dan Petry with the Brewers leading, 4-1.

Mirabella, in his third stint with the Brewers this season after being shuffled between Milwaukee and Denver of the Class AAA American Assn., pitched three innings of shutout relief to get his first save.

Mirabella struggled in his last stay with the Brewers and when he entered the game was greeted with boos.

“I’m just glad to be back,” said the veteran left-hander, who considered quitting baseball when he was sent back to Denver in July. “With a 7.85 ERA I can’t see too many people cheering me. That doesn’t bother me. People pay their money to come to the park. They can say what they want.”

Juan Nieves (12-6) won his seventh straight decision by allowing 6 hits in 5 innings. He struck out 6 and walked 2.

Boston 4, Baltimore 3--Spike Owen tripled home the tying run in the bottom of the eighth inning and scored the winner on John Marzano’s single as the Red Sox beat the Orioles at Boston.

Owen, who got his 500th career hit with a two-run single in the fourth, drove in three runs.

The victory was the third in a row for the Red Sox and their seventh without a defeat this season against the Orioles. The Orioles have lost four straight.

Todd Benzinger walked with one out and, after ex-Dodger reliever Tom Niedenfuer (3-4) got Pat Dodson to pop out, scored as Owen tripled to center. Marzano followed with a single to left that brought home Barrett.

Meanwhile, a complaint by Boston Manager John McNamara Thursday prompted an official scoring change involving AL batting leader Wade Boggs over a play in the Red Sox’s 5-3 victory over New York Wednesday night.

In the seventh inning, Boggs led off with a grounder to third, and Yankee third baseman Mike Pagliarulo was charged with an error when the throw hit Boggs in the leg.

After the game, McNamara told official scorer Joe Giuliotti that Boggs would have beaten the throw if it hadn’t hit him.

Giuliotti changed the scoring Thursday, and Boggs’ average rose from .361 to .363. It climbed to .366 Thursday night as Boggs went 3 for 3.

New York’s Don Mattingly, hitting .334, is second to Boggs, who won the batting title last season for the third time in his career.

Oakland 3, Kansas City 2--Jose Canseco walked with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning to force in the winning run as the Athletics beat the Royals at Oakland.

The Athletics, second in the AL West, pulled within 2 1/2 games of Minnesota. The third-place Royals fell 5 1/2 back.

Gene Garber, Kansas City’s fourth pitcher of the game, came out of the bullpen to face Canseco and got strikes on his first two pitches. He then threw four consecutive balls to bring pinch-runner Alfredo Griffin home from third base. Canseco got his 99th RBI of the season and his 15th game-winner.

Mark McGwire drove in the A’s other two runs with a single and a sacrifice fly, and has 103 RBIs.

San Diego 8, Houston 7--Pinch-hitter Rob Nelson, in his first at-bat for San Diego, singled in the winning run with one out in the ninth inning as the Padres beat the Astros at San Diego despite three home runs by Houston’s Glenn Davis.

Davis became the first Houston player since Lee May in 1973 to hit three homers in a game.

The defeat dropped the second-place Astros five games behind first-place San Francisco in the National League West.

The winning rally started when leadoff batter Garry Templeton singled off Manny Hernandez (0-3), the last of six Houston pitchers. After a sacrifice bunt by Marvell Wynne, Templeton went to third on a wild pitch.

Nelson, who was acquired in a late-season trade with Oakland for pitcher Storm Davis, bounced his single down the right-field line.