AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : For This Brewer, Having a Couple of Extra Pitches Makes a Difference

With some new pitches, Ricky Bones has found himself in a new position--No. 1 on the American League’s earned-run average list.

Bones pitched his first shutout, yielding six hits and leading the Milwaukee Brewers over the Kansas City Royals, 7-0, on Sunday at Milwaukee.

Bones (3-1), making his 74th start in the majors, ended the game by getting Dave Henderson to ground into a double play with the bases loaded. He lowered his ERA to 0.80.

“In ’92 and ‘93, he didn’t have but one pitch--his fastball--that he could throw when he got down early in the count,” Brewer Manager Phil Garner said.

“He is now throwing a slider, breaking ball, two kinds of fastballs and a changeup. And he’s very comfortable with throwing any one of those in any situation.” Bones struck out three and walked one in his second complete game of the season and fifth of his career. He did not allow a runner past second base until the ninth inning. Opponents are hitting .194 against him.

“What’s building my confidence is that I’m able to use more and more pitches,” Bones said. “It’s a great feeling for my personal goals, for the team goals, keeping that momentum alive.”

Bones never faced more than four batters an inning until the ninth, when he faced five. He got 12 outs on ground balls.

Milwaukee won its fourth in a row. The Brewers have won six in a row against Kansas City, and completed their first sweep against the Royals since April 1990.

The Brewers took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, taking advantage of an error by first baseman Wally Joyner and four consecutive hits off Mark Gubicza.

With two out, Joyner mishandled a grounder by Turner Ward. Brian Harper followed with a single. Dave Nilsson singled home Ward, Kevin Seitzer hit a run-scoring double and Jody Reed hit a two-run single.

New York 6, Oakland 2--Jim Abbott had a no-hitter for 7 1/3 innings at Yankee Stadium and Don Mattingly hit his second homer in two days as the Yankees extended their winning streak to five games.

Abbott (2-2), who pitched his first no-hitter last Sept. 4 at home against Cleveland, stopped the A’s until Geronimo Berroa blooped an opposite-field single to right. Abbott yielded one run and three hits in eight innings.

Mattingly, homerless in the Yankees’ first 15 games, hit a three-run shot off Bob Welch during a four-run third inning.

A’s Manager Tony La Russa said Abbott made his team look punchless.

“He changed speeds well, he had a little bit of a break,” he said. “He was a very tough pitcher, he picked the plate apart.”

The loss was the sixth in a row for Oakland.

Minnesota 7, Toronto 3--Kevin Tapani kept the Twins in the game at Toronto, giving up three runs in seven-plus innings, to help them end a three-game losing streak. The loss also ended the Blue Jays’ six-game winning streak.

Tapani became the club’s first starter to reach the eighth inning this season. The game also marked the first time this season that the Twins have held the opposition to fewer than four runs.

Alex Cole gave Tapani a run to work with when he led off the game with his first home run. Cole, who had never homered in 1,317 at-bats, hit Juan Guzman’s 2-1 pitch 390 feet over the fence in right-center.

Toronto’s Joe Carter increased his team RBI record for April to 28, driving in a run with a groundout in the third inning.

Seattle 7, Baltimore 6--Ken Griffey hit a long three-run homer in the eighth inning to help the Mariners break a four-game losing streak and improve to 2-9 on the road.

Seattle, which was 0-9 when trailing after seven innings, loaded the bases against Jamie Moyer. Brad Pennington came in and threw a wild pitch, allowing a run to score.

Griffey hit Pennington’s next pitch over the 25-foot wall in right, his fifth of the season. The drive was measured at 438 feet and landed 25 feet short of the warehouse that stands beyond the wall.

It was the closest anyone has come to hitting the warehouse in a game, although Griffey did it last summer during the home-run hitting contest a day before the All-Star Game.

Seattle committed three errors, leading to three unearned runs. The Mariners have committed 22 errors in their first 17 games and have given up a major league high 23 unearned runs.

Detroit 7, Chicago 6--The White Sox were trying for their first three-game series sweep against the Tigers at Cominsky Park since July 2-4, 1984, but Cecil Fielder, who hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning, singled home the go-ahead run with two out in the ninth.

Tony Phillips led off with a walk and Lou Whitaker sacrificed. Reliever Dennis Cook struck out Kirk Gibson, but Fielder, who was called out on strikes in his previous at-bat in the seventh with the bases loaded, singled off Roberto Hernandez.

“I just wanted to stay on top of the ball,” Fielder said. “A lot of times when you get a full count (in the ninth), the pitcher’s got to make his pitch.”

“A single--that’s his best hitting,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said. “He gave us a good at-bat.”

Cleveland 12, Texas 7--Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez each drove in three runs to lead the Indians at Arlington, Tex.

Belle, who has driven in nine runs in the last seven games, hit a two-run homer in the third inning to give Cleveland a 6-2 lead.

Ramirez hit a two-run single in the first and singled in a run during a four-run fourth that made the score 10-2.