American League Roundup : 71,188 Watch Detroit Win at Cleveland, 2-1

It was like the good old days at Cleveland Stadium Friday night--a large crowd, with the Indians in a pennant race.

But Detroit shortstop Alan Trammell ruined it for the 71,188 fans when he homered on the first pitch of the seventh inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 win and make the major leagues’ tightest race even tighter.

The Tigers moved within two games of the pacesetting New York Yankees in the American League East, one behind the second-place Indians.

The attendance was the largest in the major leagues in nearly two years, since the Indians played host to Kansas City on July 4, 1986, before 73,303. Friday night’s gate was boosted by an oil company’s purchase of 40,000 tickets. Customers were awarded one ticket to the game for every gasoline fill-up.

Jeff Robinson (7-2) won his sixth straight decision, beating Cleveland for the second time in six days. Mike Henneman pitched 1 innings for his 12th save.

Greg Swindell (10-3) notched his fifth complete game and Cleveland’s major league-leading 20th but lost for the second straight start. He lost it all on two pitches--the home run by Trammell and an earlier homer by Chet Lemon that gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Swindell hadn’t allowed a home run in 44 innings.

“We took advantage of two bad pitches, and it won us the ballgame,” Trammell said. “He happened to get a fastball up to me. He pitched a heck of a game, and our guys did pretty well, too.”

With the score tied, 1-1, Trammell drilled a Swindell pitch for his ninth homer, a drive just beyond left fielder Mel Hall and into the first row of the stands. Trammell has hits in 15 of his last 16 games and is batting .371 in that span, .330 for the year.

“I just made mistakes with a couple fastballs,” Swindell said. “I felt like I should have won, but I didn’t.”

Toronto 3, Boston 0--Dave Stieb allowed 4 hits in 6 innings, and Rance Mulliniks went 3 for 3 at Toronto. Stieb (8-3) was aided by three double plays.

Toronto Manager Jimy Williams was jeered by the crowd as he removed Stieb, bringing in David Wells with two runners on and Wade Boggs hitting. Boggs walked to fill the bases, but Williams stayed with Wells, who struck out Marty Barrett to end the inning.

“I thought Wells was throwing the ball good when he walked Boggs,” Williams said. “What am I supposed to do? I have to do what I think is right. (The fans) want to win. They have a right to express themselves.”

Jeff Sellers (0-6) allowed seven hits, threw two wild pitches, walked four and balked once in 5 innings. Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the third after Lloyd Moseby’s single became a triple when left fielder Jim Rice lost the ball against the reflection from the stands.

“You can’t catch what you can’t see,” said shortstop Spike Owen.

Rice was reserving comment.

Oakland 7, Texas 6--Jose Canseco hit his major leagues-leading 16th home run, a two-run shot in the ninth inning at Arlington, Tex., that snapped the Athletics’ six-game losing streak.

Eric Plunk (4-1), who pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, got the win. Dennis Eckerlsey pitched the ninth for his major league high 20th save.

Ruben Sierra’s two-run homer helped the Rangers send starter Bob Welch to his earliest exit in 116 starts in the third inning.

Mark McGwire led off the sixth with a homer, his first in 80 at-bats and 12th of the season.

Baltimore 5, New York 3--Mike Boddicker figures it’s not too late to make something out of the Orioles’ miserable season. The right-hander, once 0-8, pitched a seven-hitter at Yankee Stadium to lift his record to 3-8, as Jim Traber and Eddie Murray each drove in two runs.

It was the Orioles’ first complete game in the last 85.

“No, no way--85 games?” catcher Terry Kennedy said, increduously. “That is unbelievable.”

The Yankees played without injured Willie Randolph, Don Mattingly and Rickey Henderson. The makeshift lineup was dubbed the Columbus Yankees.

The Orioles scored three unearned runs in the first off a misplay of Fred Lynn’s ground ball by first baseman Jack Clark and broke it open on Murray’s two-run homer in the fifth, chasing Yankee starter Rick Rhoden (2-5).

Dave Winfield, the major leagues’ RBI leader with 51, hit his 13th homer of the season, a solo drive deep to left in the ninth.

Chicago 1, Milwaukee 0--The White Sox reached back to their “Go-Go” days with a stolen base by pinch-runner Daryl Boston and a clutch RBI single by Greg Walker in the 10th inning to beat Teddy Higuera and the Brewers at Comiskey Park.

“The Go-Go Sox do it again,” said Chicago manager Jim Fregosi. “It was all pitching.”

Higuera, who hadn’t allowed a run in 23 innings, and Jack McDowell were locked in a scoreless battle for nine innings. McDowell gave way to Bill Long (2-2) in the top of the 10th.

Minnesota 3, Seattle 1--Kirby Puckett’s two-run double in the fourth inning at Seattle led the Twins to their third straight victory. It was Puckett’s seventh game-winning RBI of the season and his sixth in the last 19 games.

Allan Anderson (3-3) pitched 6 innings for the win. Jeff Reardon pitched the ninth for his 16th save. He has gone 11 straight appearances without allowing a run.

The Mariners’ Harold Reynolds stole four bases, tying Julio Cruz’s club record for a single game.