American League Roundup : Toliver Keeps White Sox Under Control, 1-0

Fred Toliver, a right-hander from San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino who has spent parts of the last five seasons with three major league teams, allowed one hit in eight innings Friday night as the Minnesota Twins beat the White Sox, 1-0, at Chicago.

Toliver (7-3), who played previously with Cincinnati and Philadelphia, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, which Steve Lyons led off with a clean single to center field. Then Harold Baines hit into a double play.

Toliver, 27, walked three, hit one batter and struck out six before Jeff Reardon pitched the ninth inning for his 37th save, allowing singles to Lyons and Baines.

“Well, we kept it exciting,” Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly said. “We didn’t want people leaving early. That’s the best game Toliver has pitched for us. It was a tough decision to take him out.

“But (Dan) Pasqua hit one (foul) over the roof and (Ozzie) Guillen lined out to short in the eighth. I was hopeful we’d get more runs in the ninth and let Freddie finish. It was a tough decision. You do what you think is right.”

Dan Gladden drove in the game’s only run with a third-inning double that scored Greg Gagne, who also had doubled.

Milwaukee 2, Seattle 1--Shortstop Gary Sheffield notched his first two major league hits, a homer in the fifth and the game-winning single in the 11th, to lead the Brewers at Milwaukee and keep them 4 1/2 games behind Boston in the East.

Joey Meyer began the 11th inning with a double down the right-field line off Seattle starter Mark Langston (11-11). Mike Felder pinch-ran for Meyer and, after B.J. Surhoff popped out on a sacrifice attempt, stole third. Sheffield, the 19-year-old nephew of Dwight Gooden, then laced a single to the gap in left-center for the victory.

The hit made a winner of reliever Chris Bosio (7-14) for the first time since May 16. Bosio had lost a club-record 11 in a row.

Sheffield’s one-out homer to left in the fifth was the first hit off Langston and tied the score, 1-1. The home run broke Langston’s 17-inning scoreless steak.

Sheffield, the sixth player taken in the June, 1986, free-agent draft, joined the Brewers Sept. 2 and had been hitless in his previous 11 at-bats.

“There has been a lot of frustration,” said Sheffield, who was pressed into a starting role when Dale Sveum broke his leg last weekend in Detroit. “I can relax now. I tried to relax in the past, and I could not.”

“After I got that first hit, every at-bat after that, I was confident. This is a big thing for me to help the team win.”.

Langston scattered 4 hits over 10 innings. He walked 2 and struck out 8 to post his third straight 200-strikeout season and reach the mark for the fourth time in his five-year career.

Boston 7, Cleveland 4--The Red Sox won for the fourth time in five games and extended their lead in the East to 2 1/2 games over Detroit with the victory at Boston.

Wade Boggs homered and doubled to reach 187 hits. He needs 13 more in the last 22 games to become the first player this century to get 200 hits in six consecutive years. He also walked for the 104th and 105th times.

Dwight Evans added a home run, his 15th, for the Red Sox. Mike Greenwell tripled to bring his RBI total to 109.

Staked to a six-run lead, Mike Boddicker, 11-15 overall and 5-3 since being acquired from Baltimore, got the victory. He allowed eight hits but only one run before he gave way to Dennis Lamp in the seventh inning. Lee Smith took over in the eighth and finished for his 24th save, retiring the last six batters in order.

“We’re home, where we’ve done it all year,” Greenwell said. “I don’t know what it is, confidence or what, but we can win here.”

New York 3, Detroit 2--Claudell Washington led off the ninth inning with a home run, only the Yankees’ second hit of the game, for the win at New York, sending the Tigers to their 15th loss in 18 games.

The Yankees scored their first run without a hit. Walt Terrell (7-13) retired 10 consecutive batters before Dave Winfield and Ken Phelps drew leadoff walks in the fifth. Groundouts by Mike Pagliarulo and Willie Randolph got Winfield home.

Then Washington hit his eighth home run on a 3-1 pitch from Terrell in the ninth. The Yankees, who had only Rickey Henderson’s triple in the sixth inning, won for only the 5th time in 15 games and remained 4 1/2 games behind the Red Sox.

Oakland 14, Kansas City 6--Luis Polonia had five hits, scored five runs to tie a club record and drove in three runs to lead the Athletics at Kansas City, Mo.

The Athletics, who led, 10-0, in the sixth inning, racked Jose DeJesus for six runs over two innings in his major league debut. Dave Henderson also had three RBIs to help the offense.

The win pushed Oakland’s record to a season-best 38 games over .500. The Athletics lead second-place Minnesota by 11 games in the West.

Dave Stewart (18-11) won for the third consecutive outing and broke a personal five-game losing streak against the Royals. The only runs he allowed were with two out in the sixth, when Willie Wilson scored on a wild pitch and Kevin Seitzer and Bill Buckner scored after an error by Stewart.

The Royals stranded 10 runners through five innings against Stewart, and 14 in the game.

Toronto 8, Baltimore 1--George Bell knocked in four runs for the third time in the last seven games and hit his 21st home run to power the Blue Jays at Baltimore.

Bell also had a two-run single in a four-run sixth inning as Jim Clancy (9-13) won his third consecutive decision.