American League Roundup : Red Sox Drop Two, Trail by Three

Joe Morgan, the new manager of the Boston Red Sox has already found there’s no place like home.

Since Morgan replaced John McNamara, the team’s record at Fenway Park is 17-0. The hot streak enabled the Red Sox to climb into a tie for first place in the American League East. Eventually, they had to hit the road.

It has been a disaster. In a rain-soaked doubleheader at Detroit that began Friday night and ended after 2 a.m., EDT, Saturday, the Red Sox dropped a doubleheader, 3-1 and 3-2, and fell three games behind the Tigers.

The three consecutive defeats at the start of a five-game, first-place battle--the Tigers beat the Red Sox, 11-6, Thursday night--gave Morgan a 2-4 record on the road.

After the Tigers clobbered Roger Clemens, the best pitcher in the league, Thursday night, they got some brilliant pitching of their own in the doubleheader sweep.

In the opener, despite two rain delays of more than one hour each, Jack Morris pitched his third straight outstanding game. The hard-throwing right-hander, who struggled for more than half the season, gave up just five hits in seven innings. In his last three outings, he has given up just 2 earned runs in 25 innings.

A passed ball by Matt Nokes in the second inning enabled the Red Sox to score an unearned run. Nokes made up for his miscue when he followed singles by Chet Lemon and Darrell Evans with a sacrifice fly to break a 1-1 tie in the seventh. Lemon drove in the final run in the eighth.

In the second game, Darrell Evans’ first home run since July 10 was the decisive blow.

Mike Henneman pitched two scoreless innings of relief in each game to get two saves and now has 18.

The frustrating, eight-hour marathon finally got to Morgan. He and Spike Owen were ejected in the eighth inning of the nightcap when they argued a called third strike on Owen.

Eric King (2-1) shut out the Red Sox for six innings of the nightcap, but when the Red Sox scored their only two earned runs of the night in the seventh, he was gone.

Minnesota 7-11, New York 5-2--Just when it appeared that the Yankees were in a position to take charge of the American League East, their pitching staff collapsed.

In the opener of the doubleheader at New York, Rick Rhoden gave up five runs in the last two innings and lost.

A three-run home run by Gene Larkin in the eighth inning broke a 2-2 tie and enabled Fred Toliver to improve his record to 3-1. Rickey Henderson’s streak of getting on base his first time up ended at 15 games when he grounded out in his first at-bat.

The second game was no contest. Frank Viola, given an early cushion, became the first 17-game winner in the majors. In ending a two-game losing streak, he improved his record to 17-4. Kirby Puckett had five hits in the doubleheader for the Twins and has 159 hits in 108 games.

Lee Guetterman, brought up from the minors in hopes of getting pitching help, lasted a little more than three innings in the second game, giving up five runs and six hits.

In the last four games, all of which they lost, Yankee pitchers have given up 35 runs and 49 hits. Ron Guidry is on the disabled list, Richard Dotson and Tommy John have been clobbered. John Candelaria and rookie Dave Eiland, who has started just once, have been the only effective starters in the last week.

Oakland 4, Seattle 1--Despite the sweep, the Twins are still six games behind the Athletics in the West. Dennis Eckersley retired the last five Mariners at Oakland to earn his major leagues-leading 32nd save.

The game was tied, 1-1, in the seventh when two balks helped the Athletics score the tie-breaking run. Rod Scurry’s ninth balk in 21 innings put the go-ahed run on third and Jerry Reed balked it home.

Storm Davis (11-4) won his sixth in a row.

The Athletics took the pressure off Eckersley with two runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Baltimore 4-1, Milwaukee 1-3--Juan Bautista pitched a six-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader at Baltimore to give the Orioles a season-high fourth win in a row.

But in the nightcap, former Dodger Greg Brock drove in two runs with a double and single as the Brewers earned a split. Juan Nieves struck out six in three innings of relief to win it.

Toronto 7, Kansas City 6--George Bell and Jesse Barfield haven’t contributed much to the Blue Jays this season, but they drove in five runs between them in this game at Toronto.

Duane Ward (7-1) pitched 4 hitless innings in relief to gain the victory.

Texas 8, Cleveland 4--Pete Incaviglia hit a three-run home run in the third inning at Arlington, Tex., to help put an end to the Rangers’ three-game losing streak. The Indians have lost six in a row.

Incaviglia’s home run was his 20th.