AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : New Team, Park Suit Sutcliffe

New Oriole Rick Sutcliffe is already fond of Baltimore’s new ballpark.

The right-hander pitched a four-hitter in the Orioles’ 8-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers Friday night at Camden Yards.

Sutcliffe, who pitched the opener at the new park, gave up five hits in that one, but he has yet to give up a run.

It continued a trend that indicates Camden is a pitcher’s park. All four losing teams have been shut out.

Randy Milligan hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs.

After his opening day shutout, Sutcliffe, sidelined most of last season, was knocked out during the third inning last week at Toronto.

“I’ve still a long way to go,” he said.

Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson was impressed.

“We didn’t come close,” Anderson said. “He toyed with us, he pitched so well.”

Oriole Manager Johnny Oates agreed. “Pitched is the key word,” he said. “He didn’t throw, he pitched. The final score makes it look easy, but for six innings he had to make every inning count.”

Boston 1, Toronto 0--The rain, which resulted in two delays, caused Roger Clemens more problems than the Blue Jays.

In between the downpours, Clemens gave up only three hits and struck out 11 at Boston to win his second in a row and hand the Blue Jays their second loss in 11 games.

The game was delayed at the start for nearly 2 1/2 hours, then for nearly an hour after Jack Clark’s double set up the only run, during the fourth inning.

Clemens, who has 18 consecutive scoreless innings, gave way to Greg Harris. Harris had to work out of a jam during the eighth and two more relievers finished for the Red Sox.

Texas 6, Oakland 5--Keith Brown’s first two victories were complete games. He found the Athletics a little tougher at Arlington, Tex.

The Athletics reached Brown (3-0) for nine hits in seven innings. He gave up only two hits in the first five innings while the Rangers, with both Dickie Thon and Juan Gonzalez driving in two runs, took a 4-0 lead.

A fluke hit nearly undid Brown. With two out in the sixth, Rickey Henderson hit a comebacker. However, the bat splintered in his hand. Brown ducked the bat, the ball went through and the Athletics wound up with three runs.

Dean Palmer hit a 410-foot home run for the Rangers against Bruce Walton during the fifth inning. After hitting home runs in each of the Rangers’ first three games, Palmer hadn’t hit one since.

Minnesota 7, Chicago 0--Bill Krueger is in his seventh major league season and with his fifth team, but this was a first.

His five-hitter, during which he struck out five and walked none, was his first shutout in his 116th start.

Krueger, signed as a free agent by the Twins after going 11-8 with Seattle last year, is 2-0 for his new team.

The Twins scored three times against Charlie Hough (0-1) with two out in the first inning.

Milwaukee 5, Seattle 1--Bill Wegman gave up five hits while going the distance at Milwaukee. He lost his shutout during the ninth when a pinch double by Kevin Mitchell set up a run.

Darryl Hamilton, who drove in the Brewers’ first run on an infield out, broke the game open with a two-run triple during a four-run fifth inning.

Cleveland 11, New York 1--The Indians unloaded their best home run punch on Scott Sanderson and the Yankees at New York.

Sanderson, who had won his first two starts for the Yankees, gave up four home runs.

Mark Whiten drove in five runs and hit one of the home runs.

The Yankees, after winning their first six, have now lost four in a row.

Charles Nagy (2-1) gave up six hits for the Indians.

Albert Belle, Carlos Baerga and Sandy Alomar also homered. Alomar had four hits.

Whiten, who said he always starts slowly, had only eight hits in his first 40 at-bats and had driven in only three runs in 10 games.

“I really wasn’t worried,” he said. “I knew eventually, I would hit.”