Morris Finds Extra Incentives : Twins: There is more than $2 million in performance bonuses--and the chance to prove the Tigers underestimated his ability.

It is difficult to determine whether the signing of Jack Morris by the Minnesota Twins provided a bigger bonus for the 36-year-old pitcher or his improbable team.

In a season of redemption, Morris pitched enough innings and made enough starts to qualify for:

--A $500,000 bonus on top of his $3-million base salary of 1991.

--A $1.65-million bonus that will be added to his 1992 salary of $2 million for a total of $3.65 million.

The financial frosting will include a $100,000 bonus if Morris is selected the most valuable player of the American League’s championship series.

Morris staked a claim Saturday night as he won for the second time in two playoff starts against the Toronto Blue Jays, pitching eight innings of a 9-3 victory that gave the Twins a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Working on three days’ rest and still taking medication for the respiratory infection with which he pitched Game 1, Morris made 110 pitches and gave up two runs while yielding nine hits. He walked one and struck out three.

Said Twin Manager Tom Kelly: “Jack still isn’t 100%, but there are special people who rise to the occasion, and he’s been one of them for a lot of years.”

Said Morris of the infection:

“My chest has cleared up good, but it’s still in my head a little. A couple of times I got light-headed and my vision clouded a little, but it was nothing to worry about.

“I was just as strong after the eighth inning as I was after the first. I was ready to go out and pitch the ninth, but (Kelly) thought I had made enough pitches, and that’s his decision.”

It was Morris’ decision to leave the Detroit Tigers as a new-look free agent after 13 years as the anchor of their pitching staff. He was 15-18 in his final season, but pitched well in the closing weeks and rejected a $9.3-million offer because of a deep-rooted feeling that the Tigers didn’t really appreciate his accomplishments as the winningest pitcher of the 1980s.

He opted for his hometown Twins and a contract that could pay him more than $11.5 million over three years. His rewards, however, have gone beyond the financial.

Responding to the feeling of being wanted, he has been as effective as ever. He was 18-12 during the regular season while working 246 2/3 innings in 35 starts, the 10th time in his career he made more than 30 starts and pitched more than 200 innings.

He answered critics of his signing, became the leader of a rotation that includes Scott Erickson (20-8) and Kevin Tapani (16-9)--”They rubbed off on me as much as I rubbed off on them,” Morris said--and now has the last-place Twins of 1990 within one victory of an AL pennant.

Andy MacPhail, Twin general manager, said of Morris:

“He’s been everything we thought he would be and more, and I have to say that it came as a surprise to me that there was ever an undercurrent of opinion that Jack’s best years were behind him. I never saw a scouting report indicating that. In fact, when we reviewed the free-agent reports, we actually looked at him as unattainable.

“I mean, Detroit certainly didn’t think Jack was over the hill if they made him an offer of $9.3 million for three years.”

Said Morris, who has pitched a total of 260 innings this year: “After the way I pitched last fall and the way I worked out during the winter I was very confident I could still do it. I made some mechanical adjustments and have pitched as well as I ever have. I’d never put down the fun and success I had in Detroit, but this has been fun, too, and just about the most satisfying season I’ve ever had.”

In extending it with a performance that improved his postseason record to 5-1, Morris said he had command of all of his pitches and “won the war I had to win” when he struck out Joe Carter and got John Olerud on a groundout in the third, when the Blue Jays, leading 1-0, had runners at second and third with one out.

“The average guy doesn’t get the strikeout there,” Kelly said of the Carter at-bat, “but Jack has proved he’s not the average guy. You can make a lot of money getting strikeouts in those situations.”

Morris has. Anything more will be a bonus.