American League Roundup : Sparky Makes History but Blows Tigers’ Horn After Win Over Athletics

After he became the first manager to win 800 games with a team in each league, Sparky Anderson took a dig at detractors of his Detroit Tigers Saturday.

“What happened to those people who picked us to finish fifth?” Anderson asked after Lou Whitaker hit a three-run home run in the third inning to help the Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3, before 43,016 at Detroit. At 52-32, the Tigers have the best record in the majors.

“As for winning 800 as manager of the Tigers, that’s nice. If I stay healthy, maybe I can catch (John) McGraw (second on the all-time list with 2,840 victories). I should last about 15 more years.”

In the battle between the American League’s division leaders, Frank Tanana improved his record to 11-4 with the help of Mike Henneman and Guillermo Hernandez.

Henneman gave up Jose Canseco’s major league-leading 24th home run in the eighth inning, and Hernandez worked out of a jam in the ninth, getting Mark McGwire to pop out with two on and two out, to earn his fourth save.

“People seem to forget,” said Anderson, who won 862 games as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, “that we didn’t just now become a winning team. Throw out the first 30 games of last season and we have been the best, day in and day out. We were 11-19 early last season and we’ve been winning ever since.”

Including the last 132 games of 1987, the Tigers are 139-77 (.643) since that poor start.

The Tigers have played well this season despite losing one of the their top players, Kirk Gibson, to free agency. Their best remaining players, Alan Trammell and Whitaker, have battled injuries all season. And Jack Morris, the ace of the staff, is in the worst slump of his career.

Whitaker, who missed the first six games this month because of a leg injury, was 1 for 9 since his return when he came up in the third after Bob Welch (10-5) walked Tom Brookens and Dave Bergman. Whitaker hit a fastball for his sixth home run of the season.

“I don’t guess on pitches,” Whitaker said. “Welch jammed me with a fastball (in the first inning). He started me the same way the second time, but I adjusted and hit it pretty good.”

Milwaukee 5, Minnesota 4--Last season, reliever Jeff Reardon played a big role as the Twins won the World Series. The veteran right-hander has left something to be desired lately.

With the Twins leading the Brewers, 3-2, with two on and one out in the eighth inning last Sunday at Milwaukee, Reardon gave up a double, then walked two batters to force in the winning run.

In this game at Minneapolis, Reardon had a 4-2 lead to protect in the top of the ninth. He retired the first two batters, then faltered.

Billy Jo Robidoux and Darryl Hamilton both singled, and Paul Molitor doubled in one run. Jim Gantner followed with a two-run single, and the Twins missed a chance to move within 3 1/2 games of first place in the West.

Molitor, who will start at second base in the All-Star game, played his first game at second this season.

Ted Higuera, making his first start since June 26 for the Brewers, gave up 4 runs in 3 innings.

Chuck Crim (1-4) got the win, and Dan Plesac retired the last two Twins in the ninth for his 21st save.

Chicago 8-2, Boston 7-8--Roger Clemens struck out 15 batters and gave up only 3 hits in 8 innings but had nothing to show for it in the second game of the doubleheader at Chicago.

Todd Benzinger homered with one out in the ninth to get the Red Sox even, 2-2. Then, Wade Boggs singled to open the 10th, and the Red Sox broke it open with six runs.

In the opener, Dan Pasqua, Greg Walker and Daryl Boston hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning as the White Sox overcame a 4-0 deficit to win.

New York 5, Kansas City 3--The Yankees, who have been having hitting problems lately, found an easy mark in Ted Power. Recently off the disabled list, Power was hammered for 8 hits and 5 runs in 3 innings at New York.

In his last three outings, Power has pitched 8 innings, giving up 15 runs and 23 hits.

At that, the Yankees barely lasted. Charlie Hudson loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, then struck out Danny Tartabull and got Kevin Seitzer on a pop-up to end the game.

Baltimore 4, Texas 1--Jim Traber and Ken Gerhart hit home runs on consecutive pitches from Charlie Hough (8-9) in the sixth inning as the Orioles won at Baltimore.

Hough had a string of 71 homerless innings on the road before Traber hit his fourth with two out in the sixth.

Tom Niedenfuer got the last out to pick up his ninth save.

Seattle 9, Toronto 3--Steve Balboni is struggling to prove he can still hit home runs at the major league level, and Greg Briley is just trying to prove he belongs in the majors.

Both hit home runs at Toronto to lead the Mariners on a romp. Briley, a rookie outfielder, got his first big league homer in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie. Later in the inning, Balboni connected for a three-run homer, his seventh home run of the season.

Balboni, signed by the Mariners in early June after being released by Kansas City, has homered in each of the last two games. He averaged 29 a season in 1985-87 for the Kansas City Royals.