American League Roundup : Hough Lets His Knuckler and a Win Get Away

Charlie Hough lives, but he sometimes dies, by the knuckleball.

He lost a duel with John Candelaria on Friday night at New York, the Yankees gaining a 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Both Yankee runs can be traced to the knuckler.

In the fourth inning, the Yankees scored a run without a hit. Dave Winfield struck out but, when the third strike got away from catcher Mike Stanley, the Yankee outfielder wound up on second. Two infield outs brought Winfield around to score.

Knuckleball pitchers are also relatively easy to steal on. It proved Hough’s undoing. Rickey Henderson opened the fifth with a double to left, then stole third. He eventually scored on an infield out.

Candelaria made only one mistake, which Pete Incaviglia hit for a home run. There were only four other hits off Candelaria (2-2).

In 7 innings, Hough gave up 8 hits, 2 runs, only 1 earned, 4 walks and had 9 strikeouts. He also was charged with his third defeat.

“It’s nice to get a complete game,” Candelaria said. “I hope I get a couple more before the end of the season. This was the best I’ve thrown this season.”

Boston 6, Minnesota 5--Exactly two years after he struck out a major league-record 20 batters, Roger Clemens appeared certain to extend his record to 5-0 in this game at Boston.

Although he was tiring in the ninth, he had a 5-2 lead. There was one out, two on, and Lee Smith was coming out of the bullpen.

But Smith hadn’t pitched for 11 days. The first batter he faced, Gary Gaetti, hit a game-tying home run.

Instead of saving one for Clemens, Smith gained his second victory when Dwight Evans hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the 10th.

Although he missed the victory, Clemens turned in another solid performance. He struck out 11 and didn’t walk a batter. He has 62 strikeouts and 8 walks in 52 innings.

Wade Boggs ended an 8-for-49 slump, the worst of his career, with 3 hits off Joe Niekro.

Kansas City 7, Milwaukee 2--Kurt Stillwell had 3 of the Royals’ 13 hits at Milwaukee, and Bret Saberhagen pitched a strong eight innings.

The Royals’ hitting enabled Saberhagen, despite giving up eight hits, to improve his record to 3-2. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.

The Royals took advantage of the absence of Brewer ace Teddy Higuera, who missed a turn because of a back problem. Mike Birkbeck, Higuera’s replacement, gave up just one run in five innings but lost.

Detroit 9, Seattle 6--Alan Trammell broke out of a weeklong slump with three hits and three runs batted in at Detroit as the Tigers bounced back from a 5-2 deficit.

With the score tied, 6-6, Chet Lemon opened the seventh with his second double. He scored the go-ahead run on Trammell’s single. Trammell scored on Larry Herndon’s double to chase Mark Langston (1-3).

Guillermo (formerly Willie) Hernandez pitched a strong 3 innings of relief to gain the victory.