American League Roundup : Clemens Fans 16 Royals in Winning 13th

A year ago, Roger Clemens had to win on the last day of the season to reach 20 victories. It figures to be considerably easier this season.

The big, hard-throwing right-hander improved his record to 13-5 Friday at Boston when he struck out 16 in the Red Sox’s 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the first game of a doubleheader.

The Red Sox, with Rick Cerone hitting a two-run home run and Wade Boggs a solo smash, won the nightcap, 7-4, to make new Manager Joe Morgan’s debut a double success.

“Roger gave me the game ball,” an excited Morgan said. “That was nice.”

In his last two games, Clemens, who has won three in a row and moved far ahead of last season’s pace, has struck out 31 batters in 18 innings, just missing the major league record.

It was the second time this season that Clemens had fanned 16 Royals in a game. He struck out eight in the first three innings, then finished with a flourish. George Brett opened the ninth with a single, before Clemens struck out the side.

Clemens, who was 8-7 a year ago on his way to a 20-9 record, yielded five hits and an unearned run.

Dwight Evans gave Clemens all the offense he needed with a two-run home run in the first inning.

“After the sixth inning, he said he could probably give me one more inning,” Morgan said. “But he smelled the victory and seemed to get stronger.

Manager John Wathan of the Royals just shook his head. “He’s hard enough to hit in a regular game,” he said. “In a twilight game, he’s really difficult.”

Clemens has 202 strikeouts in 168 innings. He has 49 strikeouts and only 4 walks in his last 32 innings.

Boggs went 4 for 9 in the doubleheader to raise his average to .358.

Toronto 1, Oakland 0--Left-hander Jimmy Key held the Athletics to two hits at Oakland to win his fourth in a row since coming off the disabled list. Key (6-1) faced just 18 batters in the last six innings.

Dave Stewart (12-8) pitched his eighth complete game but gave up a run-scoring single by George Bell in the third inning. Bell also threw out Don Baylor trying to score from second on Mike Gallego’s single to left in the second inning. Baylor had doubled for the first hit off Key.

The loss cut the Athletics’ lead in the West to four games over Minnesota.

New York 5, Chicago 3--Maybe it’s because owner George Steinbrenner has promised to clam up, or maybe it’s the opposition, but the Yankees are zeroing in on first place in the East.

Manager Lou Piniella insists that the last half of the season belongs to Don Mattingly. In the two games at New York since the All-Star break, the slugging first baseman has terrorized the woeful White Sox.

He had two hits, including a home run, Thursday night and came back the next night to get three more hits, including another home run.

The Yankees built a 4-0 lead for Rick Rhoden (5-6) and held on with the help of four relief pitchers.

Rickey Henderson singled, stole a base and scored on two wild pitches in the first inning before Mattingly, who hit only two home runs in 24 games before the All-Star break, homered.

Mattingly, 5 for 8 in his last two games, has reached base in six of his last seven at-bats and has raised his average to .318.

Minnesota 4, Baltimore 2--Manager Tom Kelly of the World Series champion Twins is a patient man. His patience with Charlie Lea in his comeback attempt has paid off.

Although Lea was 0-3 and was touched for 18 runs in 17 innings in his first four starts, Kelly didn’t give up on the once-promising right-hander, who had not won in the majors in three years.

Lea, although he gave up 9 hits in 6 innings at Baltimore, improved his record to 6-4.

Gary Gaetti hit his 20th home run in the first inning to give Lea a 2-0 lead, and the Twins added two more in the second.

Lea, 31, was 15-10 with Montreal in 1984 before arm problems almost ended his career.

The Orioles were without Manager Frank Robinson, who will undergo surgery for a ruptured disk today. Bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks will be the manager for the next two weeks.

Milwaukee 4, Texas 2--Ted Higuera, coming back strong from back problems, held the slumping Rangers to two hits in eight innings at Arlington, Tex., and the Brewers won their fifth in a row.

Higuera, who lost his shutout and gave up three hits in the ninth, had 12 strikeouts before Dan Plesac came in and get the last out.

The Rangers have scored only 6 runs in the last 39 innings while losing four in a row and have only two extra-base hits in the last three games.

Seattle 8, Cleveland 5--Dave Valle sparked a four-run seventh inning at Seattle with a bases-loaded, two-run double as the Mariners handed the Indians their sixth straight loss.