Baseball Roundup : Saberhagen Makes His Best Pitch for Cy Young With 23rd Victory

Bret Saberhagen set a club record Saturday with his 23rd victory and clinched the American League earned-run average title as the Kansas City Royals beat the Athletics, 6-1, at Oakland.

Saberhagen, who won 14 of his last 15 starts, may have also locked up the American League’s Cy Young Award while his victory was helping the Royals clinch second place in the West. His 23rd victory, against six losses, broke the club record set in 1974 by Steve Busby, who went 22-14.

Saberhagen, who allowed only three earned runs in his last 58 innings (0.47 ERA), ended the season with a 2.16 ERA, best in the majors. The Cy Young winner in 1985, when he finished 20-6, Saberhagen allowed four hits in eight innings against the A’s and struck out a career-high 13. He walked only two.

Saberhagen’s streak of 31 scoreless innings ended when the A’s scored in the fifth, only the third run in 31 innings this season by Oakland against Saberhagen.

“He threw good, one of the best in the league,” said Oakland’s Dave Parker, who struck out three times. “But he’s going to rest all winter now.”

Seattle 2, Minnesota 1--Edgar Martinez singled home Jay Buhner with two out in the 10th inning at Seattle to give the Mariners the win.

Buhner drew a one-out walk off Jeff Reardon and went to third on two-out single by Dave Cochrane. Martinez followed with a ground single to right.

Jerry Reed (7-7) pitched the 10th for the win after Bill Swift allowed only four hits over the first nine innings.

Minnesota rookie Kevin Tapani had a three-hit shutout entering the bottom of the ninth, but Harold Reynolds led off with a single, stole second and went to third on Greg Briley’s groundout.

Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett, who entered the game as the American League’s leading hitter at .340, was hitless in four at-bats to lower his average to .33809. Oakland’s Carney Lansford is second at .33759.

Milwaukee 3, Boston 1--Converted reliever Mark Knudson allowed six hits, all singles, in 8 1/3 innings at Boston to beat Roger Clemens.

Two of the Red Sox hits off Knudson (8-5), making his seventh start of the season, were infield singles. No Boston runner reached second base until the ninth inning, when Jody Reed and Marty Barrett singled, and Reed then advanced to third on a fielder’s choice.

Reliever Dan Plesac gave up a run-scoring single to Mike Greenwell before getting the last two outs for his 33rd save.

Clemens (17-11) struck out 10 in his first home loss in seven decisions.

New York 9, Detroit 2--The Yankees beat Detroit at New York for the 10th straight time, and clinched fifth place in the East in the process, as Alvaro Espinoza drove in three runs and Don Mattingly hit a solo home run.

En route to 13 hits, the Yankees sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning against Kevin Ritz (4-6), Steve Searcy and Edwin Nunez. They had five runs on four doubles, two singles and a walk.

Chicago 8, Cleveland 2--The White Sox may be in last place in the West, but the win at Chicago guaranteed they’ll finish better than .500 for the second half of the season after improving to 37-35 since the All-Star break.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

With an assist from Manager Don Zimmer, Chicago’s Ryne Sandberg tied the major league record for second basemen with his 89th consecutive errorless game, equaling the mark set by Manny Trillo of Philadelphia, as the Cubs beat the Cardinals, 6-4, at St. Louis.

Sandberg has played only one inning in each of the last three games. Zimmer said his star will do the same today in the regular-season finale as the Cubs prepare to meet San Francisco in the playoffs.

“I’ll say one thing,” Zimmer said. “Anybody that says that is a cheap record is wrong.

“The guy has played in every inning of every game for six years. I think he’s entitled to the fielding record.”

Doug Dascenzo’s ninth-inning RBI single broke a 4-4 to give the Cubs the win, after they blew a 4-1 lead in the eighth.

Houston 9, Cincinnati 2--Glenn Davis hit a two-run home run, and Jose Cano, a 27-year-old right-hander, scattered seven hits for his first major league victory in the Astros’ win at Cincinnati.

New York 7, Pittsburgh 2--The Mets scored five times in the 11th inning, highlighted by Kevin McReynolds’ bases-loaded single, to win at Pittsburgh.

Randy Myers (7-4) got the win despite allowing the Pirates to tie the score, 2-2, in the bottom of the ninth. Bill Landrum (2-3) got the loss.

The Pirates had a streak of 25 innings without scoring an earned run before Dann Bilardello had a home run in the fourth inning.

San Diego 11, San Francisco 5--Tony Gwynn went three for four to reach 200 hits in a season for the fourth time in his career and narrow the National League batting race in the Padres’ victory at San Diego.

Gwynn, who entered the game with 197 hits, raised his average from .331 to .333. He is pursuing San Francisco’s Will Clark, who singled in four at-bats to remain at .334.

With a double, Gwynn drove in the first of four runs in a fifth-inning rally, which broke a 4-4 tie against Rick Reuschel (17-8). Reuschel allowed eight runs, including Sandy Alomar Jr.’s first career homer, in tuning up for his start Thursday in the National League playoffs.

Philadelphia 6, Montreal 3--Bruce Ruffin allowed three runs in seven innings and Dickie Thon’s two-run triple sparked a three-run fourth inning at Philadelphia as the Phillies sent the Expos to their fourth consecutive loss and ninth in 12 outings.