American League Roundup : Morris, Returning to Form, Beats Chicago, 5-0

When they fell out of first place in the American League East July 25, it appeared the Detroit Tigers’ bubble had burst.

It was amazing that they had stayed on top so long without having much power, and with their best pitcher, Jack Morris, having his worst season. Morris, hampered by a shoulder problem, was 7-11 with a 5.33 earned-run average.

The Tigers needed a big lift. The hard-throwing right-hander gave it to them the next night and has regained his position as ace of the staff.

Morris pitched his best game of the season Sunday, a two-hitter in the Tigers’ 5-0 victory over Chicago at Detroit. It gave the Tigers a sweep of the four-game series and restored their lead in the division to four over Boston and six over New York.

The resurgence has been led by Morris, twice a 20-game winner and once a World Series star in his 10 seasons with the Tigers.

In his last six starts, Morris has pitched 51 innings, given up just 28 hits, 7 earned runs and 12 walks while striking out 40. His only loss was to Minnesota when he gave up four runs and the Tigers didn’t score.

Against the White Sox, he struck out 8 and walked 1. He gave up a singles to Harold Baines in the fourth and to Mark Salas in the fifth. Nobody reached second base and he faced only 29 batters.

He struck out the last three batters and was quite pleased with his performance.

“My mechanics got better,” he said. “I wasn’t jumping around as much. It almost became easy.”

After watching the latest Morris performance, Chicago Manager Jim Fregosi predicted the Tigers would win the East.

“Pitching wins in August and September,” Fregosi said. “The teams with the best pitching win the pressure games. A club like Detroit will stay in the race because it has fine pitching.

“They have good pitching depth and that’s especially important late in the season. The bullpen is strong and the starters have pitched enough to keep the bullpen rested.

“Morris was the story of the game. He had good stuff and he got all his pitches over. It’s the best I’ve seen him in three years.”

Oakland 5, Boston 4--The Athletics and Minnesota Twins are playing a game of follow the leader. Whatever the A’s do, the Twins do the same. So, after Luis Polonia singled in the winning run in the eighth inning at Boston, the A’s remained eight games in front in the West because the Twins also won. It’s been that way for a week.

The Red Sox held a 4-3 lead going into the eighth, but Mark McGwire, who had been only 2 for 13 for the series, hit his 25th home run to tie it. Carney Lansford singled and scored the run that put the A’s ahead.

Invariably, a late-inning lead means victory for Oakland. The A’s brought in their closer, Dennis Eckersley, for the last two innings. He gave up two hits, but he also earned his major league-leading 35th save.

“Coming back to Fenway is weird for me,” said Eckersley, a starter for the Red Sox from 1978-84. “I’m emotional anyway when I pitch, but coming in here, makes me more emotional.”

Dave Parker, sidelined since July 3 with a thumb injury, returned to the lineup as the designated hitter, but went 0 for 4.

Seattle 4, New York 2--There were some talented young pitchers on display over the weekend in New York. Yankee Manager Lou Piniella only wishes he had some of them.

Scott Bankhead, 25-year-old right-hander, held the Yankees to five hits in seven innings in this one, improved his record to 7-7 and dropped the Yankees six games out of first place.

The Yankees won the opener of the four-game series, but they had trouble with all four Seattle starters. In the opener of Friday’s doubleheader, Terry Taylor, 24, made his major league debut and gave up 2 runs and 4 hits in 7 innings, but the Yanks won in 10.

Mike Moore, 28, beat the Yankees, 6-1, in the nightcap on a 5-hitter, and Saturday, Mike Campbell, 24, held them to 4 hits and 2 earned runs in 6 innings in a 9-5 victory.

“If we score just a few more runs a game, we’d be awfully tough,” said Mariner Manager Jimmy Snyder. “Our staff would be talked about all over the league.”

Piniella would just like to pry a couple of them away from Snyder for the stretch drive.

Minnesota 12, Texas 2--Kent Hrbek’s two-run double triggered a six-run first inning at Minneapolis that helped Bert Blyleven win his 253rd game.

“It was a lousy game,” Ranger Manager Bobby Valentine said although he didn’t see much of it. He was ejected by third-base umpire Rich Garcia, his 16th ejection this season--each by a different umpire. “I thought Hrbek’s grounder would be a double play. The next thing I knew it was against the wall.”

The Twins had just 8 hits, but 9 walks and 3 hit batsmen contributed to the 12 runs. The Twins scored only four runs in losing the first three games of the series.

Blyleven (9-11) went six innings, giving up five hits and both runs.

Kansas City 3, Cleveland 1--Mike Gubicza pitched a six-hitter at Cleveland to become a 15-game winner for the first time. His next goal is to win 20 games for a team playing just a little better than .500.

Bud Black, favoring a tender elbow, held the Royals even, 1-1, through five, but after he left, Rod Nichols (0-4) balked in the winning run in the sixth. Black’s balk in the first inning set up the first Royals’ run.

Toronto 8, Milwaukee 4--Ernie Whitt’s 3-run double sparked a 7-run third inning at Toronto that made it easy for left-hander Jimmy Key to improve his record to 8-3.

Key, who spent half the season on the disabled list, gave up 2 runs and 6 hits in 8 innings before Tom Henke took over in the ninth.