American League Roundup : Clemens Strikes Back to Beat Morris and Tigers for Third Victory, 7-3

It was the second meeting of the young season between two of the best pitchers in the game, and this time Roger Clemens prevailed.

In the opening game of the season, the Detroit Tigers’ durable Jack Morris and the hard-throwing Boston Red Sox star battled to a nine-inning draw.

But in the return match Tuesday night at Detroit, Clemens recovered from a shaky start to strike out 11 in eight innings and pitch the Red Sox to a 7-3 victory.

Five pitches into the game, Clemens trailed, 2-0, after a single to Gary Pettis and Lou Whitaker’s first-pitch home run. After that, Clemens got tough, and won his third without a defeat.

Morris, who won the opener at Boston when the Tigers scored two runs off Lee Smith in the 10th, didn’t have it this time.

He was knocked out in the sixth inning after giving up 12 hits and 7 runs. He was also called for 2 balks.

Three of the hits were by Marty Barrett, including a tie-breaking 2-run single in the fourth that put Clemens ahead to stay.

Clemens, who got off to a shaky start last season after leaving training camp because of a contract dispute, lost three games before he won his third a year ago. He still went on to win 20 games and his second Cy Young Award.

In his four starts this season, Clemens has pitched 34 innings, given up 24 hits and 6 earned runs. He has struck out 44.

“I’m two batters into the game, and I’m wondering what I’ve done wrong,” said Rick Cerone, catching Clemens for the first time. “I wondered if I was calling the wrong pitches.”

It turned out that Clemens was worrying about being called for a balk with Pettis on first. He threw Whitaker a fastball, and Whitaker hit it a long way.

“That made Clemens mad,” Detroit’s Pat Sheridan said. “Here he was losing to Jack Morris, 2-1, all because he was worried about coming to a stop. He started striking people out, and it didn’t matter.”

New York 7, Minnesota 6--Joe Niekro won the starting assignment for this game at Minneapolis because Charlie Lea had a slight stiffness in his pitching arm.

The Yankees knocked out their former teammate in a hurry, scoring all seven runs in 1 innings, then barely hanging on for the victory.

Rickey Henderson, Bobby Meacham and Mike Pagliarulo each drove in two runs in the six-run second inning.

Rookie Al Leiter went five innings to pick up his third win without a defeat. After Cecilio Guante gave up just one hit in 3 innings of relief, bullpen ace Dave Righetti almost lost it.

Righetti entered with two on and one out. He gave up two hits that scored three runs. With runners on first and third, Kent Hrbek ended the game with a vicious line drive that was snagged by first baseman Don Mattingly.

Texas 3, Cleveland 0--Jose Guzman probably should have been home in bed instead of on the mound at Cleveland. The Indians wished the right-hander, who has been battling the flu for several days, would have stayed away.

Guzman went six innings, giving up four hits to improve his record to 2-1. Larry Parrish drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the first inning to provide Guzman with the cushion.

“I didn’t feel well the whole game,” Guzman said. “I felt weak and just tried to go as far as I could in the cold weather.”

Toronto 12. Kansas City 3--Jesse Barfield climaxed a 7-run third inning at Toronto with a grand slam, and Jim Clancy tied a club record with 12 strikeouts.

Clancy, pitching the Blue Jays to their third win in a row, needed only seven innings to tie the record set by Pete Vuckovich July 26, 1977.

The temperature was 34 degrees when the game started.

Chicago 7, Seattle 2--Carlton Fisk hit two of the five White Sox home runs at Seattle as they won their fifth straight.

Former Dodger Jerry Reuss (1-1) gave up four hits and two runs in five innings to get the victory.

John Davis and Bobby Thigpen blanked the Mariners the rest of the way.