American League Roundup : Blyleven and Howe Win as Minnesota Defeats Oakland Twice

Former Baltimore Oriole pitching coach and current Twin Manager Ray Miller was supposed to improve Minnesota’s young pitching staff with his teaching methods. But, Miller has improved the staff by acquiring the first two pitchers he talked about having on his staff--Bert Blyleven and Steve Howe.

Blyleven and Howe each won a game as the Twins swept a doubleheader from the Oakland A’s, 4-3 and 5-4, on Monday at Minnesota.

“I’d like to have had them three weeks ago,” Miller said. “They were the first two people I talked to (Twin president) Howard Fox about.”

Howe, in his first appearance as a Twin, pitched 3 innings of relief, retiring 11 batters in a row at one point, to win his first American League game.

Howe said: “I showed tonight that I can go 3. For a short reliever, that’s a long way. I’m right where I want to be.”

Miller said: “When I saw him (Howe) in July, he threw so well that I didn’t want to say anything for fear people would find out. He proved himself to me.”

Blyleven threw a four-hitter as the Twins won the first game with the help of Roy Smalley and Mark Salas, who homered.

Salas’ fourth homer of the year, off loser Jose Rijo (0-1), was a two-run shot and capped the Twins’ comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the sixth.

Blyleven (11-12) went the distance for the 17th time this year, most in the majors. He walked three batters and struck out eight. Blyleven has 143 strikeouts to lead the American League.

The A’s scored three times in the third inning. Donnie Hill doubled, scoring Mike Heath. Alfredo Griffin singled to score Hill and, after Dwayne Murphy walked, Bruce Bochte singled to drive in Griffin for a 3-0 lead.

In the second game, the Twins scored four times in the fifth inning to take the lead. Salas and Gary Gaetti singled and Ron Washington tripled. Washington scored on a squeeze bunt by Alvaro Espinoza. Kirby Puckett walked, stole second and scored on Smalley’s single.

The A’s scored four times in the sixth to tie it. Tom Brunansky’s 20th homer in the eighth gave the Twins the win.

New York 10, Chicago 4--Just when you thought it was safe to concede the AL East title to Toronto, here come the Yankees. Coupled with the Blue Jays’ loss to Texas, New York now trails by only 5 1/2 games.

Ron Hassey, who let the tying run score in the sixth inning with two passed balls, hit his second home run of the game to trigger a seven-run seventh inning at Chicago.

Phil Niekro (11-9) got his 295th career win, and it was the Yankees’ seventh straight victory.

Gene Nelson (7-7) gave up five hits, including Hassey’s first home run, a two-run shot, in the fifth inning that put New York ahead 2-0.

Texas 5, Toronto 4--Wayne Tolleson singled home Steve Buechele from third with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Rangers the victory at Arlington, Tex.

The win came against Bill Caudill (4-6) and marked the first time in their history that the Rangers had beaten the right-hander. Dwayne Henry, just called up by the Rangers, recorded his first major league victory.

Buechele led off the ninth with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice by Geno Petralli. Tolleson, with the infield drawn in, looped a single to shallow right-center for the game-winning hit.

Cleveland 8, Baltimore 5--Things have gotten so bad for Earl Weaver’s club, it can’t even beat Cleveland at home. Pat Tabler drove in three runs, and the Indians scored five runs in the first inning as the fifth-place Orioles remained 13 games behind Toronto.

Tabler has driven in 15 runs while going 6 for 6 in bases-loaded situations this season, making him 22 for 34 with 54 RBIs in such opportunities over the past three years with Cleveland.

Brook Jacoby hit his 13th homer and Curt Wardle, one of the players that the Indians received in the Blyleven trade, picked up the victory. Jerry Reed pitched four innings to record his first save.

Baltimore starter Scott McGregor (9-10) made just 17 pitches and failed to retire any of the five batters he faced. It was the 38th time that Baltimore has trailed after the first inning.

Eddie Murray, Lee Lacy, Wayne Gross and Larry Sheets homered for Baltimore.

Milwaukee 4, Detroit 3--Earnest Riles collected three hits and drove in the decisive run with a single during Milwaukee’s three-run eighth inning at Milwaukee. The Brewers scored the three runs with the help of two Tiger errors.

Chet Lemon hit his 10th homer leading off the ninth against Brewer reliever Rollie Fingers to cut the deficit to one run, but Fingers got the final outs for his 14th save.

Milwaukee starter Jaime Cocanower (3-1) allowed 7 hits, walked 5 and struck out 4 in eight innings.

Kansas City 3, Boston 2--At Boston, Mark Gubicza allowed only one run and five hits in 7 innings as the Royals handed the Red Sox their fourth straight loss.

With runners on first and third and two out in the eighth, reliever Dan Quisenberry replaced Gubicza (9-6) and struck out Jim Rice to earn his 26th save, tops in the American League.

The Royals, improved their record to 16-7 since the All-Star break, picked up single runs off loser Al Nipper (7-8) in the second, fifth and eighth innings.