American League Roundup : April Is Winfield’s, Night Belongs to Pagliarulo

The Texas Rangers played it smart Saturday night at New York and prevented Dave Winfield from possibly breaking the record for most runs batted in during April.

After Winfield singled in two runs in the fifth inning to give him 29 RBIs in the month, breaking the American League record and tying the major league standard, he came up in the sixth with runners on second and third. The Rangers walked him intentionally.

Mike Pagliarulo followed with a grand slam that gave him two home runs, seven RBIs and gave the Yankees a 15-3 romp.

Throughout the record-breaking month, Yankee General Manager Lou Piniella has been trying to satisfy owner George Steinbrenner by arranging a deal to trade Winfield.

The latest rumor has Winfield involved in a 3-way deal with the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros in which Winfield would go to Toronto, the Blue Jays’ Jesse Barfield to Houston and the Astros’ Kevin Bass to the Yankees.

Steinbrenner has been angry with his veteran slugger ever since he was rapped by Winfield in his book.

Winfield has been hitting above .400 almost the entire month. He drove in his 27th run of the season last Tuesday in his 19th game by hitting his seventh home run.

But he failed to drive in a run in the next three games, and it appeared that Don Baylor’s league record of 28 and the major league mark of 29 held by Ron Cey and Dale Murphy were safe.

The Yankees, with the help of Jack Clark’s 2-run home run, led, 4-2, when they loaded the bases in the fifth. Winfield rammed a 1-and-2 pitch between third and short to send home two runs and tie the record.

Winfield had one more chance to break the record. With a runner on first and two out in the seventh, he grounded out.

The 15-run outburst came after the Yankees scored just 22 runs in the previous 7 games.

Chicago 4, Baltimore 1--Rick Horton and Bobby Thigpen teamed on a 5-hitter, and Ivan Calderon hit his seventh home run at Chicago to help the Orioles resume their losing ways.

The Orioles went 1-22 for April for a .043 percentage, the lowest in one month for a major league team.

Oakland 11, Cleveland 3--Jose Canseco hit a 3-run home run in the third inning at Cleveland to give Bob Welch a good start on his way to his third victory against two defeats.

The home run was Canseco’s major league-leading eighth and gave him 24 runs batted in. It also enabled the Athletics to increase their lead in the West to 3 1/2 games.

Canseco’s start is in contrast to a year ago when he had only 1 home run and 10 RBIs in April.

Boston 8, Minnesota 3--A couple of weeks ago, Rick Cerone was at home in New Jersey, baby-sitting his children and wondering if his major league career was over.

Then, Boston’s No. 1 catcher, Rich Gedman, broke his foot. Now, Cerone, 33, is an important part of Boston’s drive into contention in the East.

Cerone hit his first home run since last September and also had two singles to raise his average to .424 for 10 games.

Cerone’s hitting helped left-hander Bruce Hurst, despite an off day, improve his record to 4-0.

Hurst gave up 12 hits, 6 doubles, and departed after yielding 4 straight hits in the seventh inning at Boston. Wes Gardner retired nine in a row for his first save.

In Roger Clemens and Hurst, the Red Sox have a one-two pitching punch hard to match. If they get the expected help from Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd, they may be in the race all the way.

Milwaukee 4, Kansas City 1--Unaccustomed as he is to pitching with offensive support, Bill Wegman was prepared for it when he finally got some help.

In this game at Milwaukee, Paul Molitor went 3 for 3 and scored twice to help the big right-hander improve his record to 2-3.

In Wegman’s three defeats this season, the Brewers scored just one run. In 10 of his losses last year, they scored a total of 15.

“I try to deny it, but the lack of runs is there in the back of my mind, “ Wegman said. “It is a good feeling to be working with a lead.”

Detroit 4, Seattle 3--Alan Trammell singled home Tom Brookens from second base with two out in the 12th inning at Detroit to give the Tigers the victory.

The Tigers’ Walt Terrell, injured in spring training, made an auspicious debut, retiring the first 15 Mariners. He gave up 5 hits in 6 innings.