American League Roundup : Sparky, Tigers Run Short of Magic as Red Sox Close to Within a Game

The Detroit Tigers seemed too good to be true all season. Outstanding pitching and an ability to win the close ones obscured the fact that the Tigers are mostly a mediocre team.

The excellent managing of Sparky Anderson also helped hide the problems and the Tigers seem to have been on top of the American League East forever.

Lately, the Tigers have resembled a rather ordinary team. The pitching has faltered, especially the once invincible bullpen, they seem to have lost the knack of pulling out the close ones and the injuries are piling up.

With 33 games remaining, the Tigers look like a team ready to be taken. The big question: Is there a team capable of taking them?

What about the Boston Red Sox? The Red Sox, despite an injury to their best pitcher, Roger Clemens, are giving indications that they are ready for the stretch run.

Clemens is almost back in form and Bruce Hurst has taken over as the ace.

Hurst (16-4) pitched a 5-hitter Sunday at Seattle and struck out 11 in a 7-2 victory that put the Red Sox just one game back of the Tigers.

It was Hurst’s seventh victory in a row and the Red Sox’s fourth win in six games. They are the only team in the East playing winning ball for the past week.

Mike Greenwell, leading the major league in runs batted in, hit a three-run double in the sixth to wipe out a 2-0 deficit and spark a five-run rally. Greenwell has driven in 103 runs.

In 11 starts after Red Sox defeats, Hurst has won 10 times.

Until Hurst’s recent surge, the Cy Young Award battle was between Clemens and Frank Viola of the Twins. Both have faltered recently.

“I told Hurst that if he could win today, he could project himself into the Cy Young race,” Manager Joe Morgan said. “He has as good a fastball as I’ve seen in a long time.”

Darnell Coles’ two-run homer in the first provided the Mariners’ with their only offense.

Milwaukee 12, Detroit 10--This is the kind of game the Tigers would never have lost a month ago. They built a 5-0 lead behind Doyle Alexander at Milwaukee. Until he went sour recently, Alexander would always turn at least part of the lead over to the bullpen.

The lead was still 9-4 going into the sixth. But Alexander was shelled in a six-run inning and Mike Henneman, star of the relief corps couldn’t save it.

Then, after catching up, 10-10, the Tigers didn’t win it. Paul Molitor tagged Henneman for a two-run home run in the seventh and the Tigers lost for the fifth time in the last six games.

Furthermore, the staggering Tigers had to send 13-game winner Jeff Robinson back to Detroit to undergo tests for a circulation problem on his pitching hand. When he pitched Tuesday at Minneapolis, Robinson, the club’s best pitcher this season, gave up 5 earned runs in 7 innings.

The Brewers had to overcome a goof by Manager Tom Trebelhorn that cost them their best player, Robin Yount, early in the game. Trebelhorn wrote Yount into his batting order twice, the second time as the designated hitter in place of Mike Young.

Anderson discovered it, but waited until Young lined out in the second. Home plate umpire Mike Reilly had to make Yount leave the game, because technically he was pinch-hit for by Young.

Kansas City 12, Minnesota 3--If pitchers keep throwing an occasional fastball to Bo Jackson, the Royals’ slugger is going to keep hitting it out.

Jackson hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning to highlight a seven-run uprising at Kansas City that helped the Royals sweep a three-game series. Jackson’s last five hits have been home runs.

The Twins, who seem to have lost their drive since Gary Gaetti went out with a season-ending injury, had a 3-0 lead behind Allan Anderson going into the bottom of the sixth. Anderson (12-8) had won six in a row. But the Royals scored five times to chase him and continued the assault on Juan Berenguer in the seventh.

The world champions reign seems about to come to an end.

Baltimore 2, Oakland 1--With an eight-game lead in the West and only 31 games to play you wouldn’t think the Athletics had a care in the world.

But, managers can always find reason for alarm.

In the case of Manager Tony LaRussa, it’s bullpen ace Dennis Eckersley.

After a sensational season, Eckersley is showing signs of wearing out. For the second game in a row at Oakland, he failed to hold a lead.

Curt Young held the lowly Orioles to three hits in eight innings and, after Luis Polonia’s two-out single in the bottom of the inning scored a run, Eckersley took over.

Joe Orsulak, who tripled and scored the winning run in the 11th, greeted Eckersley with a pinch single and wound up scoring the tying run on Billy Ripken’s sacrifice fly.

Cleveland 5, Chicago 4--Ron Kittle, who used to do these things for the White Sox, hit a pinch home run leading off the 11th inning at Chicago to give the Indians the victory.

It was the third time this season Kittle, a star for the White Sox from 1982-86, hit a home run in the pinch.

Toronto 6, Texas 5--Craig McMurty misplayed a bunt, then walked three consecutive batters in the 11th inning to force in the go-ahead run, and the Blue Jays rallied and beat the Rangers in Arlington, Tex.