AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Nagy Keeps Winning for Last-Place Indians

As a rule, there is not much fun pitching for a last-place team. But, nearing the halfway point of the season, Charles Nagy is enjoying it.

Nagy, given a four-run cushion in the first two innings Friday night at Cleveland, gave up five hits in seven innings and pitched the Indians to an 8-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Although the Indians are last in the American League East, Nagy won his 10th game as the Indians continued to make life miserable for the co-leaders in the West.

The Indians are 5-1 against the A’s, and Nagy has figured in three of the games. The first time the 6-foot-3 right-hander faced the A’s, he gave up five hits in eight innings, but the A’s won it in the ninth. In late May, the A’s hammered him for six runs in seven innings, but Nagy was the winner.

“I don’t know if we get an extra charge out of playing the Oakland A’s or what,” Nagy said. “But we’ve played good against all the good teams--Minnesota, Toronto, Baltimore. We just seem to turn it up a notch.”

Nagy has won six of his last seven decisions. He has given up more than two earned runs in only one of his last eight starts.

At home Nagy is 5-1 with a 1.11 earned-run average. His overall ERA is 2.26.

Ron Darling (7-6) failed to get past the third inning for the second time in a row. He gave up five runs and six hits in three innings. He hurt himself with an error and three wild pitches.

“It’s embarrassing to go out there and get your team down by so many runs early,” Darling said. “It’s especially true when the other team has its best pitcher out there.”

Chicago 2, Boston 1--George Bell’s home run gave Charlie Hough a one-run lead at Chicago and the knuckleballer was two outs away from his 200th victory.

But Hough, 44, gave up a single to Jody Reed, the third Boston hit. Hough departed, but Bobby Thigpen failed to save it. With two out, Tom Brunansky hit a double that scored the tying run.

It was of little consolation to Hough that with two out in the 10th, Bell delivered a run-scoring single to give the White Sox their 11th victory in the last 13 home games.

Bell extended his hitting streak to nine games and is 15 for 37 during that span.

Although he needed 31 pitches to get out of the first inning in which he walked two, Hough did not give up a hit until Luis Rivera beat out a bunt with two out in the fifth inning.

Frank Viola went nine innings for the Red Sox, giving up seven hits.

Baltimore 6, Minnesota 1--Former Dodger Mike Devereaux had five hits and scored twice at Minneapolis to end the Twins’ six-game winning streak.

Devereaux had four singles and a triple, and Randy Milligan and Glenn Davis each drove in two runs to hand John Smiley (8-4) his first loss in more than a month.

Mike Mussina, 0-2 in his previous three starts, gave up 12 singles in 8 1/3 innings and improved his record to 9-3.

Smiley, who was 5-0 with an ERA of 1.31 in his previous seven starts, gave up eight hits and four runs in 6 1/3 innings.

While preventing the Twins from taking over first place in the West, the Orioles remained a game behind Toronto in the East.

Detroit 6-0, Seattle 4-11--The Mariners scored 15 runs and had a grand slam from Jay Buhner, but they managed only a split of their doubleheader at Detroit.

Travis Fryman put the Tigers ahead with a two-run homer in the seventh. In the eighth Lou Whitaker hit his 200th homer.

The Tigers, trailing, 3-0, turned a triple play in the fifth inning of the opener.

Buhner’s slam made it a romp for Erik Hanson (6-10) in the nightcap. Hanson gave up five hits.

Milwaukee 7, Kansas City 3--The Brewers had lost three in a row on the trip and they needed a big performance at Kansas City.

Jaime Navarro (9-6) gave them just that. He took a three-hit shutout into the eighth inning before he faltered.

One of the highlights came in the fourth inning. George Brett hit a drive to deep center and Robin Yount robbed him with a sensational catch. The catch left Brett 90 hits short of 3,000. Yount had a hit and needs 46 to reach 3,000.

New York 9, Texas 6--Danny Tartabull capped a six-run seventh-inning rally at Arlington, Tex., that brought the Yankees their 22nd come-from-behind victory this season.

An error by Ranger shortstop Dickie Thon on a potential double play ball kept the rally alive and Don Mattingly singled in two runs before Tartabull put the Yankees ahead to stay.

Jose Guzman (7-6), the victim of the rally, had beaten the Yankees five times in a row.