American League Roundup : Brewers Again Draw a Blank Against Clemens

The rest of the American League may not be convinced, but the Milwaukee Brewers know Roger Clemens is the best pitcher in the league and maybe in all of baseball.

In two appearances this season, the Brewers haven’t found their way home against the hard-throwing ace of the Boston Red Sox.

Clemens held the heavy-hitting Brewers to three singles Sunday at Milwaukee and the Red Sox beat Brewers’ ace Teddy Higuera, 4-0.

The big right-hander struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. On April 14 at Boston, Clemens shut out the Brewers on six hits, striking out 13. Going back to last season, the Brewers have not scored on Clemens in 30 innings.

Clemens, who didn’t win his fourth game last season until May 27, is 4-0 with an earned-run average of 1.26. In his last 29 innings he has walked only 2 batters.

“It’s no secret he’s the best pitcher in the league,” Milwaukee catcher B.J. Surhoff said. “The way he’s pitched against us, it’s kind of tough trying to come back once you fall behind.”

Clemens, who rallied from a poor start to win 20 last season, retired 18 consecutive batters in one stretch.

“I mixed my pitches well,” he said. “Milwaukee is a pretty aggressive team to play. I knew I had my work cut out for me.”

Higuera (2-1) went the distance and gave up only five hits. But a single, a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases in the second and two sacrifice flies gave Clemens all the offense he needed.

Boston Manager John McNamara just sat in the dugout and smiled at Clemens’ performance.

“He was in charge,” McNamara said. “I think he can be more dominating than he was in 1986. He really makes you glad he’s on your team. I enjoy watching him.”

The first two games of the series were rained out, but the days off didn’t get Wade Boggs out of the worst slump of his career. The perennial batting champion went 0 for 4 against Higuera and is 7 for 41 in the last 11 games.

Minnesota 13, Cleveland 7--It didn’t figure that the Twins, who had the best home record (56-25) last season, could be held down forever at the Metrodome.

But the power source was a little surprising. Tim Laudner, a career .218 hitter, hit consecutive three-run homers to help the Twins end a six-game losing streak, the last five at home.

In the third inning, Laudner greeted relief pitcher Rich Yett with a three-run home run that broke a 4-4 tie. In the next inning Laudner did it again and the Indians lost for only the fourth time in 18 games.

Three of the Cleveland runs came on a bases-loaded double by Pat Tabler in the seventh inning. Tabler is 31 for 58 (.458) with 73 runs batted in when he bats with the bases loaded.

Oakland 5, Chicago 3--Jose Canseco hit a three-run home run to highlight the Athletics’ four-run third inning at Chicago and former Dodger Bob Welch improved his record to 2-2.

Welch gave up 5 hits and all 3 runs in 7 innings. All three runs came on two home runs by Dan Pasqua. The first one ended Pasqua’s 0 for 18 slump.

Just before hitting his seventh home run, Canseco failed in a sacrifice bunt attempt.

“I was hitting the ball so poorly in batting practice, I decided to bunt,” Canseco said. “It’s funny, but I hit three balls good after the home run, only they were long outs.”

The amazing Dennis Eckersley got the last two outs for the Athletics. The veteran right-hander has eight saves in eight opportunities this season.

New York 5, Toronto 3--As long as Charlie Hudson doesn’t know when he is going to pitch, he is very effective. He seems to thrive on long relief assignments.

Hudson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning at New York and went on to pick up his second victory in a row and stop the Blue Jays’ five-game winning streak.

It was a 3-3 game in the eighth, but Rickey Henderson scored the tie-breaking run on a wild pitch by Mark Eichhorn. Henderson singled to open the inning and, after Willie Randolph walked, they worked a double steal to get Henderson to third.

Texas 4, Detroit 2--Steve Buechele hit a home run in the fifth inning at Arlington, Texas to break a 2-2 tie and Charlie Hough went seven innings to win his third.

Ironman reliever Mitch Williams retired the last six batters, two on strikeouts, to register his sixth save.

Jack Morris, beaten by Roger Clemens in his last outing, went the distance, giving up six hits. His record is 2-3.