American League Roundup : Ready for This? Orioles Stun Stewart and A’s

It was the hottest pitcher in baseball against the coldest team Friday night at Baltimore.

So, Dave Stewart, who had opened the season with eight consecutive victories, was beaten by the Orioles, who opened the season by losing a record 21 games.

Stewart, who had gone 57 innings without giving up a home run, yielded consecutive homers to Eddie Murray and Fred Lynn in the fourth inning, and the Orioles went on to beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-1.

It was only the fifth victory in 34 games for the Orioles, and it ended the Athletics’ nine-game road winning streak. With the loss, the Athletics (24-10) had their lead in the AL West cut to 6 1/2 games.

Jay Tibbs, recently brought up in desperation by the Orioles, improved his record to 2-0. He gave up 9 hits in 7 innings but departed with a 3-1 lead.

Stewart went the distance for the third time in nine starts, allowing 9 hits in 8 innings.

“If you keep taking your turn, eventually you’re going to lose one,” Stewart said. “I just try to go out and give my best effort. I feel I did that tonight. I just came out on the losing end.”

Tibbs, 26, was a prize prospect with Cincinnati a few years ago, but after he lost 16 games in 1984, the Reds gave up on him.

The 6-foot 3-inch right-hander spent parts of the last two seasons with Montreal. His record in the National League was 27-32 with an earned-run average of 3.91.

In his debut May 2, Tibbs was a 9-4 winner, only the Orioles’ second victory in 25 games. Last Sunday, he was knocked out in the fifth inning, but the Orioles won in the 10th. So, they are 3-0 with Tibbs as a starter.

Texas 2, Kansas City 1--The Rangers are now the hot ones. With rookie left-hander Ray Hayward pitching a strong 7 innings at Arlington, Tex., they won their seventh in a row.

Oddibe McDowell keyed a two-run second inning with a triple to put Hayward (2-0) in front. Hayward, in just his third start, retired 15 batters in a row after giving up a home run to George Brett in the first inning.

The Royals missed a chance to tie it in the ninth, when Brett doubled. He went to third after Ruben Sierra made a diving catch of Danny Tartabull’s liner, but it was ruled that Brett left second too soon.

Boston 14, Seattle 8--Seattle’s Dick Williams was managing his 3,000th major league game, but the Red Sox, the team with which he began his career, treated him shabbily at Boston.

The Red Sox, who had hit only 12 home runs in 30 games, fewest in the league, included four homers among their 18 hits. Mike Greenwell hit two of the home runs.

Boston’s Wade Boggs came out of an 0-for-10 slump with four consecutive singles.

About the only consolation for the Mariners was that they out-homered the Red Sox, 5-4. But they were down, 12-2, after four innings and never had a chance.

Oil Can Boyd lasted six innings and improved his record to 4-2.

Although he hasn’t had much success as leader of the Mariners, Williams, as a rookie manager of the Red Sox in 1967, won the pennant.

Detroit 7, Minnesota 0--When the Twins won the American League pennant, they did it with a poor road record. The Twins are having their troubles this season and, if anything, are worse on the road.

Veteran right-hander Doyle Alexander pitched a seven-hitter at Detroit, and the Twins lost for the 11th time in 14 games away from home.

Luis Salazar keyed the attack that enabled Alexander to improve his record to 3-2. Salazar was 4 for 4, including a 400-foot home run over the center-field fence in the first inning.

He singled in the fourth, and Alan Trammell followed with a home run. Two outs later, Ray Knight hit his first home run for the Tigers, and it was a breeze for Alexander.

Cleveland 4, Milwaukee 3--Bullpen ace Dan Plesac can almost always be counted on to save a Brewer victory. But in this game at Milwaukee, he couldn’t handle Cory Snyder.

Plesac replaced Teddy Higuera with two out and two on in the eighth inning and the Brewers holding a 2-1 lead. He went to 2-0 on Snyder, then the next pitch sailed out of the park for Snyder’s seventh homer.

Greg Swindell (7-1) gave up two runs in the first inning, after which he retired 16 batters in a row.

Swindell gave up a triple to Dale Sveum and a two-out single to Robin Yount in the bottom of the eighth. But Doug Jones retired the last four Brewers for his fifth save.

Chicago 4, Toronto 1--Unbeaten rookie Melido Perez pitched a three-hitter at Chicago for the first complete game of his brief career.

Harold Baines came out of an 0-for-8 slump to hit a two-run home run and a single and help the younger brother of Pascual Perez post his third victory.

Perez had a two-hit shutout until Fred McGriff hit his eighth home run with one out in the ninth.