American League Roundup : Bannister Is Nearly Perfect for White Sox

The Chicago White Sox were willing to give up Floyd Bannister to one of the contenders in early August--for the right price. But every club thought that the White Sox wanted too much for the 32-year-old left-hander, and a trade wasn’t worked out.

Bannister indicated Sunday at Seattle that he may have been a bargain at any cost.

A third-inning single by Harold Reynolds prevented Bannister (13-10) from pitching a perfect game. Reynolds was thrown out trying to stretch his clean single to left field into a double, and Bannister retired the next 18 batters to give the White Sox a 2-0 victory over the Mariners.

The pitch Reynolds hit came after Bannister shook off a sign from catcher Carlton Fisk the only time all day.

“I called for a slider,” Fisk told the Associated Press, “and he shook me off. I called a perfect game.”

It was Bannister’s first one-hitter and his fifth victory in a row. He has pitched six two-hitters.

“It was unfortunate,” he said. “I just got it up in the strike zone.

“This is just one more to add to a good series. The last three months have gone well.

“In this hitter’s stadium, I was just trying to keep the ball in the park and not walk anyone.”

Bannister, who spent four seasons with Seattle before signing with the White Sox as a free agent after the 1982 season, struck out 10. and faced the minimum 27 batters.

He outpitched Seattle ace Mark Langston (17-11). Langston, again foiled in his bid to become the Mariners’ first 18-game winner, gave up two hits. Both were home runs, by Pat Keedy in the third and Donnie Hill in the seventh. Between them, they have 10 home runs.

Detroit 5, Milwaukee 1--Now that Walt Terrell is winning on the road, he has become an integral part of the Tigers’ drive to win the East.

The 29-year-old right-hander kept the Tigers even at Milwaukee until they scored four runs in the ninth to beat the Brewers, 5-1, and move back into a tie with the Toronto Blue Jays for first place.

Chet Lemon singled in the go-ahead run, and then Milwaukee relievers walked in two more.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for Terrell (14-10), but more important, it was his second win in a row on the trip. When the 10-game trip began, Terrell was 1-8 away from Tiger Stadium.

He gave up eight hits, including Paul Molitor’s 12th home run, and struck out seven in pitching his first complete game in 17 starts on the road.

Terrell is 8-2 since the All-Star break. The Tigers are 37-20 during the same span, the best in the majors.

Molitor, who led the Brewers to victories in the first three games of the series, went 11 for 16 in the four games.

Minnesota 7, Cleveland 3--Because Jeff Reardon has a tender shoulder, the Twins have to use their bullpen ace with care. They never let him pitch two games in a row.

Reardon’s second sharp performance over the weekend at Cleveland has enabled the Twins to extend their lead in the West to 4 1/2 games.

He gave up one hit in 2 innings, and when the Twins scored four runs in the 10th, he had another victory. Kirby Puckett singled to drive in the tie-breaking run, and Gary Gaetti doubled in two more in the rally.

Friday night, Reardon pitched two perfect innings and won when the Twins scored three runs in the 11th.

Reardon, who has pitched only four times and 8 innings in 14 days, has two saves and two wins while allowing only one hit and one walk during that span.

Kansas City 6, Oakland 5--Rick Honeycutt can’t seem to win, no matter what league he is in. In this game at Oakland, Honeycutt, who lost 11 in a row before the Dodgers traded him to the Athletics, extended his losing streak to 13.

He gave up five runs in 2 innings, including Steve Balboni’s third home run in four games, as the Royals moved into a tie with Oakland for second place in the West.

Balboni went 5 for 12 in the four-game series and drove in 9 runs.

New York 8, Toronto 5--The Yankees had to remove starter Steve Trout only one out into the first inning, then got solid relief pitching from Charles Hudson and rallied to win at Toronto.

Trout, who is 0-4 since being obtained from the Chicago Cubs in August, faced six batters, allowing three hits and two walks while retiring one.

Hudson kept the Blue Jays from building more than a 3-0 lead, and the Yankees came back on home runs by Dave Winfield, Gary Ward and Rickey Henderson to move within six games of first place in the East.