American League Roundup : Heartbreak Club Adds a Member : Indians’ Farrell Becomes Third to Lose No-Hitter in Ninth

John Farrell didn’t get his no-hitter, merely a lifetime experience.

Farrell held the Kansas City Royals without a hit until Kevin Seitzer singled with none out in the ninth inning as the Cleveland Indians scored a 3-1 victory Thursday at Cleveland.

“It’s a real good feeling, because everything seems to stand out so much,” Farrell said. “You remember every pitch, and the strike zone seems to be three or four times bigger than it was.”

Willie Wilson was safe on a two-base error by Cleveland first baseman Pete O’Brien to start the ninth before Seitzer broke up the no-hitter with a fly ball that dropped barely inside the right-field line for a single.

“I just went with the pitch and tried to hit it to right,” Seitzer said. “I was talking to (the ball) all the way down there.”

Even though it was the only hit Farrell gave up, it chased him from the game. Facing reliever Doug Jones, Jim Eisenreich grounded into a double play, scoring Wilson, and Danny Tartabull grounded out to end the game.

Farrell (2-1) struck out four and walked two. His best previous effort was a six-hitter.

The Royals hit into 14 ground-ball outs and thought that they would have gotten more hits if the field had been in better condition. The field remained wet two days after it was left uncovered during a rainstorm Tuesday night.

“The field was brutal, just brutal,” Seitzer said. “(Brad) Wellman hit a couple of hard ground balls up the middle that I thought were guaranteed base hits, and we hit a couple back to the mound hard.”

The victory was the Indians’ sixth in their last seven games, while Kansas City lost for only the third time in its last 12.

It was the third no-hitter broken up in the ninth inning in the majors this season. Toronto’s Nelson Liriano ended both of the previous no-hit bids--with a one-out triple against Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers April 23, and with a double against Kirk McCaskill of the Angels with none out in the ninth last Friday night.

Farrell was making only his fourth start after beginning the season on the disabled list because of tendinitis in his right elbow. He went 8 2/3 innings in his previous start, a 4-1 victory in Minnesota last Saturday.

Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen (2-3) gave up three runs on five hits.

Cleveland broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the eighth on a two-out, run-scoring single by Jerry Browne and a two-run homer by Joe Carter.

Milwaukee 3, Minnesota 2--Don August pitched seven strong innings, and the Brewers handed Cy Young Award-winner Frank Viola his fifth defeat in five decisions, all at Minneapolis.

Viola, 24-7 with a 2.64 earned-run average last season, gave up eight hits but lowered his ERA to 4.84. Joey Meyer’s infield out produced a run in the fourth, and the Brewers made the score 3-0 on run-scoring singles by Gary Sheffield and Robin Yount in the fifth.

August (2-4) yielded one run and six hits in seven innings. Dan Plesac got his fifth save although he gave up a home run to Brian Harper with two out in the ninth.

New York 11, Texas 7--The Yankees knocked out Charlie Hough with four runs in the first inning and scored three more in the third to overpower the Rangers at Arlington, Tex.

Rickey Henderson and Don Mattingly got two-run singles in the third. Hough (2-3) left after two-thirds of an inning, his earliest departure since 1979, when he pitched for the Dodgers.

Dave LaPoint (4-1) gave up homers to Pete Incaviglia, Rafael Palmeiro and Julio Franco, but made it through 5 1/3 innings despite being charged with all of the Rangers’ runs.

Chicago 5, Boston 4--Ron Kittle drove in three runs with a double and a sacrifice fly as the White Sox beat the Red Sox at Chicago.

Boston trailed, 5-1, after seven innings, but scored three runs in the eighth--two on a home run by Nick Esasky.

Bill Long (2-3), who entered the game with an 8.31 ERA, ended his three-game losing streak by giving up six hits in 6 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the season.