American League Roundup : Orioles’ Victory Puts Them Back in First Place

The Baltimore Orioles tease left-hander Jeff Ballard about his background, but they look forward to his turn to pitch.

Ballard, the hottest pitcher in the American League, threw another strong game Friday night at Cleveland and put the amazing Orioles back into first place in the East.

Ballard held the Indians to seven hits in seven innings as the Orioles defeated the Indians, 5-2. The victory put the Orioles over .500 (22-21) and improved Ballard’s record to 8-1.

Larry Sheets drove in two runs with a home run and single, and the Orioles, who lost more than 100 games last year, stretched their winning streak to four games.

The 25-year-old Ballard tied his victory total of last season when, as a rookie, he was 8-12.

The Orioles kiddingly ask Ballard how a youngster who grew up in Billings, Mont., where they don’t even play high school baseball, and went to college at Stanford could be a success in major league baseball.

“The guys dog me daily,” Ballard laughed. “They say I’m just a country boy from the Ivy League of the West.”

Ballard, not an overpowering pitcher, just keeps the hitters off balance and gets them to hit the ball to his teammates. He is only the third Oriole pitcher to win eight of his first nine decisions.

Not only does he have an earned-run average of 2.17, but he usually brings out the best in the Orioles’ hitters, who have scored five or more runs in seven of them.

“It’s a simple formula,” said Ballard, who has only 13 strikeouts in 60 innings. “I let my teammates do the job on offense and defense.”

Oakland 4, New York 0--With so much pitching talent, the Athletics have been able to bring Todd Burns of Maywood along carefully.

Out of necessity--an injury to Storm Davis--they were forced to start the 25-year-old right-hander in this game at New York.

Burns responded by limiting the Yankees to one hit in 6 2/3 innings. After 82 pitches, they removed Burns (4-0), and Rick Honeycutt and Eric Plunk combined to shut out the Yankees the rest of the way.

New York’s only hit came when Rickey Henderson beat out a slow roller to third in the fourth inning.

“I caught a perfect game by Len Barker when I was with Cleveland,” catcher Ron Hassey said. “Tonight I could call whatever I wanted and Todd was right there.”

Run-scoring doubles by Hassey and Tony Phillips helped Burns improve his lifetime record as a starter to 12-2.

Toronto 11, Chicago 3--Ballard’s fast start has taken the limelight from some steady pitching by Jimmy Key of the Blue Jays.

Ernie Whitt hit a three-run homer and a double to lead a 17-hit attack that made it easy for Key to improve his record to 6-2 in the game at Toronto.

Former Dodger Shawn Hillegas (1-6) gave up 10 hits and seven runs in four innings.

Texas 5, Minnesota 3--Rick Leach had three hits, including his first home run, and the Rangers overcame a shaky performance by Bobby Witt to win at Minneapolis.

Witt, who had lost four games in a row, made it through 5 2/3 innings to end his losing spell. He gave up four hits, but walked four and was in trouble continually.

Seattle 7, Milwaukee 2--Scott Bradley and Ken Griffey Jr. hit home runs at Milwaukee to lead the Mariners to an easy victory.

Bradley’s three-run homer gave Seattle a 5-1 lead in the second inning to chase Don August (3-6). Griffey’s home run was his seventh.

Mike Jackson pitched four strong innings in relief of starter Luis DeLeon, who improved his record to 2-0.

Kansas City 6, Detroit 3--The Tigers only needed solid relief pitching for the last two innings at Kansas City, and they would have stretched their winning streak to four games. They didn’t get it.

Instead, trailing by 3-2 going into the eighth, the Royals rallied for four runs to pull it out. Pinch-hitters Bill Buckner and Mike Macfarlane each singled in a run, then Bo Jackson delivered a two-run single to clinch it.

The victim was Mike Henneman, who retired the first two Royals in the eighth, then walked Jim Eisenreich, who came all the way home on Buckner’s single.