American League Roundup : Brewers Sweep Yankees to Close In on Orioles in AL East

The Brewers tried to keep their anger from erupting Wednesday in Milwaukee while they went about completing a sweep of their three-game series with the New York Yankees.

Charlie O’Brien had two run-scoring singles, and Paul Molitor went three for three to lead the Brewers to a 5-1 victory, their sixth win in a row.

With Baltimore losing, the Brewers moved within 1 1/2 games of first place in the American League East. The Yankees, who have lost four of their last five, are 7 1/2 games out of first place.

The Brewers were upset because they lost hot-hitting second baseman Jim Gantner for the season on a takeout play at second base Tuesday night.

The Brewers thought that Yankee rookie Marcus Lawton threw a football block on Gantner, trying to break up a double play.

Gantner underwent surgery for a torn ligament in his left knee, and it is expected to be three months before he can work out.

“Everyone in the clubhouse will tell you, having seen the replay, how flagrantly wrong that was, what he did,” Molitor said. “He never approached a slide per se. It was just, ‘Plant that right hand on the ground and throw that hip.’ That kind of play leads to injury.”

Gantner, 35, had been hitting well since the All-Star break, batting .331 during that stretch and playing a prominent role in the Brewers’ surge into contention.

Shortstop Billy Spiers of the Brewers was quite upset. It was his low throw that left Gantner in a position where he could not protect himself.

Second base umpire Dave Phillips called it a double play, ruling that Lawton illegally interfered with Gantner.

Texas 3, Seattle 1--Nolan Ryan, pitching with a stiff neck that forced him to cut down on his fastball, came up with another big game in Seattle.

Ryan, who may be having his best season at 42, relied mostly on his curveball and a changeup to hold the Mariners to three hits before leaving with one out in the eighth.

With eight strikeouts, Ryan needs six more to reach 5,000. The victory gave him a 14-7 record and put him only 13 short of 300 wins.

“Nolan Ryan is terrific,” Texas Manager Bobby Valentine said. “He goes out and battles you, even when he’s not at his best. He wasn’t at his best today. His fastball wasn’t his fastball. He pitched today.”

Ryan said he didn’t mind not reaching 5,000 strikouts.

“I’m getting closer,” he said. “I’m glad it worked out the way it did. I’d rather do it Tuesday (in Arlington, Tex.), but I won’t worry about it.

“I didn’t have the stamina I’ve had the last few games.”

Toronto 7, Boston 3--Even Roger Clemens couldn’t prevent the Blue Jays from continuing to make themselves at home in Fenway Park.

Pinch-hitter Lee Mazzilli’s two-run single culminated a three-run eighth-inning rally that brought Toronto from behind to its 15th consecutive win in Boston.

The Blue Jays won all six games at Fenway this season. They broke the American League record of 13 wins in a row at an opponent’s park a couple of games ago. The Yankees set it against the St. Louis Browns in 1939-40.

The win kept the Blue Jays, who open a four-game series at Baltimore tonight, in a tie with Milwaukee, 1 1/2 games out of first place.

Detroit 4, Baltimore 0--Don’t give up yet on Frank Tanana. The 36-year-old left-hander can still pitch.

Tanana (9-10) pitched a two-hitter, struck out nine and denied the Orioles their first series sweep at Detroit.

The Orioles had won the first six at Detroit, but Dave Bergman hit a home run, and Alan Trammell had a two-run triple for the Tigers, who got only one run and seven hits in the first two games of this series.

Cleveland 6, Oakland 3--Brook Jacoby singled home the tie-breaking run, and Joe Carter added a two-run single in the eighth inning as the Indians ended a four-game losing streak by downing the Athletics at Oakland.

Steve Olin (1-0) pitched three innings of one-hit relief for his first major league victory and Doug Jones pitched two hitless innings for his 28th save.

The A’s lead over the Angels in the AL West was reduced to one-half game.

Kansas City 5, Chicago 4--Pat Tabler doubled home the tying run and a little later in the eighth inning at Chicago scored what proved to be the winning run on Bob Boone’s suicide squeeze bunt.

Bret Saberhagen (14-5), with help from Jeff Montgomery, equaled his win total of last season, when he lost 16.