Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 46

SECTION Preps Boxing, Page 2 Pistons, Page 3 Football, Page 4 Scores: 1-976-1313, Sports: 222-6660 Henry Ford's Joe Hoskins barred from coaching rest of football season. Page 2E. Thursday, Oct. 4, 1990 Setoott Vtesa fPI finish seaw flair 50th h-rs- v.i.- DUANE BURLESONDetroit Free Press Cecil Fielder watches his 50th homer head toward the leftf ield stands at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night. Fielder hit No.

51 in the eighth. Historic homer comes I 4 4 (- -y ff- off Yanks' Adkins in 4th and 51st Fielder's By Charlie Vincent Free Press Sports Writer BOSTON Tom Brunansky, who helped the Minnesota Twins upset the Tigers in the American League playoffs in 1987, Wednesday made sure the Boston Red Sox have an opportunity for a similar upset this fall. Brunansky scored Boston's final run in a three-run second inning. He then preserved the 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox with a diving catch of a sinking liner by Ozzie Guillen to rightfield with two on and two out in the ninth, In the bedlam that followed as some fans leaped onto the field Brunansky seemed to turn back toward the wall for the ball, as if it had popped out of his glove. White Sox manager Jeff Torborg raced onto the field to question the catch, but was assured by his bullpen that Brunansky was trying to retrieve his cap, not the ball.

"Maybe that's why they thought the ball popped out," Brunansky said. "But it hit right in the pocket. I knew it was in there solid, but I thought I was going to hit the wall. "As soon as it left his bat I knew it wasn't going out, but it looked like it had a good chance for extra bases." Guillen's llth-inning single that beat Boston, 3-2, Tuesday night forced the American League East race to the 162nd game. Wednesday night, he almost did it again.

Boston scored its runs in the second on three consecutive hits and a bizarre rundown that went awry. After that, it did not matter that the Toronto Blue Jays lost to Baltimore, 3-2. The second-place Jays finished two games behind Boston and seven ahead of the third-place Tigers. Mike Greenwell led off the second with a double off White Sox starter Alex Fernandez (5-5) and scored on a single by designated hitter Dwight Evans. Brunansky made it 2-0 with a See RED SOX, Page 5E KL Pirates vs.

Reds DAY SITE TIME Today Cincinnati 8:30 Friday Cincinnati 3:18 Monday Pittsburgh 3:18 Tuesday Pittsburgh 8:27 Wednesday Pittsburgh 8:27 Oct. 12 Cincinnati 8:27 Oct 13 Cincinnati 8:27 All games CBS (Channel 2 In Detroit) and WWJ-AM (950). All times p.m. AL Red Sox vs. Athletics DAY SITE TIME Saturday Sunday Tuesday Wednesday Oct.

11 Oct 13 Oct. 14 Boston Boston Oakland Oakland Oakland Boston Boston 8:30 8:27 3:18 3:18 8:27 12:18 8:27 AL batting title George Brett wrapped up the American League batting title Wednesday afternoon with a single. Page 5E. PLAYER, TEAM AVG George Brett, Kansas City .329 Rickey Henderson, Oakland .325 Inside Gene Guidi previews the NL playoffs, Page 8E. Bruno, Red Sox rule East WHEN: 8:39 p.m.

Wednesday. SITUATION: Fourth Inning, two out, Tony Phillips on first. After John Shelby and Darnell Coles made outs to begin the inning, Phillips walked. Up came Fielder, the No. 2 hitter.

WHERE IT LANDE it bounced off the third (upper) deck In leftfield In Yankee Stadium, In the section In fair territory closest to the foul pole, and fell into the lower deck. PITCHER: Yankees rookie left hander Steve Adkins, 25, In his fifth big-league start and game. COUNT: 2-1. PITCH: Fastball. SCORE: The two-run homer gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

OVATION: The game stopped for approximately Th minutes as Fielder rounded the bases, received congratulations from teammates, and then stepped out of the dugout to acknowledge the crowd. Many of the fans gave Fielder a standing ovation. WIND: A slight breeze blew out to leftfield; it did not appear to be a factor. SINCE THE 49TH: The 50th homer came on Fielder's 23rd plate appearance, his 51st swing, and the 100th pitch he had been thrown since his 49th homer last Thursday night against Boston. BY JOHN LOWE Free Press Sports Writer NEW YORK Cecil Fielder did it.

In the Tigers' final game of the season, he ripped his 50th homer in the fourth inning Wednesday night against Yankees rookie left-hander Steve Adkins. With Tony Phillips on first base and two out, Fielder walloped a 2-1 fastball off the facing of the distant leftfield third deck the upper deck in Yankee Stadium. The Yankees estimated the ball carried 391 feet before hitting the stands. "Yes! Yes!" Fielder yelled when he hit the ball, according to plate umpire Rocky Roe. He didn't run out of the batter's box; he leaped.

"I'm just glad I did it," Fielder said calmly at a postgame press conference. "I feel really juiced." With the pressure for No. 50 finally off, Fielder capped a fantastic night and unimaginable season by drilling his 51st homer. It was a three-run drive that carried an estimated 406 feet to left in the eighth inning off righthander Alan Mills, completing Detroit's scoring in a 10-3 victory. Fielder, signed as a free agent from Japanese baseball in January, finished the season with 51 homers and 132 RBIs, both best in the majors.

He is the first Tiger in the 71-year modern home-run era to lead the majors outright in both homers and RBIs. He became the 11th player in big-league history to hit 50 homers in a season. New York's Roger Maris holds the single-season record at 61, but many of the greatest home-run hitters including all-time leader Hank Aaron never hit 50 in a season. Yankees management sent a three-liter bottle of champagne to the clubhouse for Fielder, along with a congratulatory card. The oversized bottle sat in ice in a Gatorade bucket next to Fielder's locker.

As he and his teammates hurried about for the final flight home, they sipped the champagne out of plastic cocktail glasses bearing the Yankees logo. A crowd of 13,380 at Yankee Stadium cheered Fielder when he walked to the plate for every at-bat Wednesday, and they gave him a standing ovation after the 50th homer. Fielder came out of the dugout for a few seconds to wave to the crowd after both homers. Fielder's 50th homer came in hisl 23rd plate appearance since he hit his. 49th six games ago.

He had two hits in; that time, both singles. He walked and lined out in his two times up before the homer Wednesday. "After No. 49 (which he hit last -Thursday), I really got caught up in this," he said. "I wasn't being myself anymore at the plate.

I was trying to please everyone. "I became a different hitter. I was; trying to pull the ball. That's not something I tried to do all year. I tried to hit to all fields." That Wednesday was the final game seemed to relax Fielder.

He See TIGERS, Page 7E DUANE BURLESONDettoit Free Press Cecil Fielder can't help but grin as he rounds the bases in the fourth inning Wednesday night after hitting his 50th home run of the season. ir i.