AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians, Displaying No Prejudice in East, Also Beat Up on Red Sox, 5-2

The Cleveland Indians are playing better than either contender in the American League East.

Over the weekend the Indians took two of three at Toronto to prevent the Blue Jays from building a fairly comfortable lead.

Playing no favorites, the Indians took it out on the floundering Red Sox Tuesday night at Boston.

Greg Swindell gave up seven hits in eight innings and Sandy Alomar hit a home run to lead the Indians to a 5-2 victory.

It was the third consecutive loss for the Red Sox, their 15th in the last 21 games and left them 1 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays.

The Red Sox are lucky the Blue Jays haven’t put the race beyond their reach. As it is, they act like a team waiting for their leader--Roger Clemens--to save them.

When Clemens was hurt the Red Sox led by 6 1/2 games. The hard-throwing 20-game winner is scheduled to return Friday night in the opener of a three-game series against the Blue Jays at Boston.

While the leaders are struggling, the Indians have won nine of 11 to move into position to challenge for third place.

A two-run home run by catcher Tony Pena in the fifth represented most of the offense for the anemic Red Sox.

Frustrated Manager Joe Morgan was sent a gold horseshoe by Red Sox fans.

“I guess I better hang it on the clubhouse wall,” Morgan said. “We’ve tried about everything else without success.

“We’ve got Toronto three games this weekend. What more do you want? If worse comes to worse, you still gotta look at the big dogs in front of you and beat them.”

Every Cleveland starter except Carlos Baerga had at least one hit as the Indians chased Greg Harris (13-9) in the sixth.

“We have a chance for third,” Manager John McNamara of the Indians said. “This is good experience for our players to play Toronto and Boston. These games mean more.”

Wade Boggs continued his hitting slump, which has put added pressure on the Red Sox. Boggs was hitless in three at-bats and is one for 29. He has all but lost his bid to get 200 hits for the eighth consecutive season. He needs 19 hits in the last eight games to do it.

Milwaukee 8, Toronto 4--It was the Brewers’ turn to bring out the big bats at Milwaukee. The night before George Bell had five hits and the Blue Jays romped, 9-5.

But B. J. Surhoff and Robin Yount provided the muscle as the Brewers ended a seven-game losing streak. Surhoff drove in four runs, three of them with a triple, and Yount homered and also drove in three runs.

Yount, who hit his 17th homer in the third to tie it, doubled to drive in a run in the sixth when the Brewers jumped in front, 5-3.

The Blue Jays moved to within a run in the top of the eighth, but Surhoff’s bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the inning put the game out of reach.

“I would feel better if we had a bigger lead when we go in to Boston for the weekend,” Toronto Manager Cito Gaston said.

“All in all, we’ve been playing pretty well. We might have pulled this one out, but in the sixth when it appeared Mookie Wilson’s throw home nailed Dave Parker, the call went against us. That hurt and gave them a two-run lead.”

New York 15, Baltimore 3--The Yankees have the lowest batting average in the major leagues, but they went on a record hitting spree at New York.

Rudy Velarde climaxed an eight-run first inning in which the first eight batters hit safely to tie a major league record held by several teams.

Roberto Kelly opened the game with a home run and the Yankees had 15 more hits before they were through. They made it easy for Dave Eiland to win his first. He gave up two earned runs in seven innings.

Kevin Maas hit his 20th home run for the Yankees, a 435-foot blast.

Detroit 4, Seattle 1--Pinch-hitter Larry Sheets hit a three-run home run with two out in the ninth inning at Detroit to hand the Mariners their fourth loss in a row.

The Mariners, blanked on three hits through eight innings by Walt Terrell, tied the score in the ninth on a walk and two singles.

Dave Bergman opened the bottom of the ninth with a walk. Alan Trammell sacrificed and home run king Cecil Fielder was walked intentionally to get to Sheets.