Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 20

4B Baseball Sunday, June 18, 1989 Reno Gazette-Journal Manager of Year races as interesting as pennant races Major League notes Jerry Reuss beat Cleveland Wednesday and when reminded that Reuss will be 40 on Monday, Indians manager Doc Edwards said, "Yeah, and he pitched like he was 38." SENIOR STARTERS innings all signs of a well-managed team. Howe is taking the heat off the front office for letting Tree-agent pitching ace Nolan Ryan get away. Rose has managed to keep the minds of his Reds focused on the pennant race despite his well-publicized off-field problems involving accusations of gambling. Cincinnati is 11-4 in one-run games, and 6-2 in extra innings. The team is winning despite Kal Daniels' injury problems and ace Danny Jackson's pitching woes.

After Langston beat St. Louis 2-0 on a four-hitter Tuesday night, Herzog said, "I think it's a crying shame he's not pitching in St. Louis." Dombrowski told Expos beat writers he is considering filing charges of tampering against Cardinals. Said Herzog: "What did I say wrong? I said it's a shame he's not pitching in St. Louis.

We tried to get him since February, and we offered them (Seattle Mariners) some hellacious deals." Gaston has a shot if the Blue Jays rally to win the A.L. East. The team was 12-24 and on the verge of collapse when Jimy Williams was fired, and is well above 500 since. In the National League, Don Zimmer is championing the cause of the "Old Boys managerial recycling system. He has the Chicago Cubs in the thick of the N.L.

East race with a roster heavy on names generally associated with Class AAA Iowa. Eleven of his players have two years or less big-league experience. He is squeezing the most out of a suspect Stitching staff, and found ways to manu-acture runs when top guns Andre Dawson and Mark Grace were sidelined. Houston rookie Art Howe and Cincinnati's Pete Rose are his main competition. The Astros are 17-10 on the road, 29-12 in one-run games, and 9-4 in extra 5 If ski fm ..7 WANTED: PITCHER White Sox manager Jeff Torborg has used nine starters and 16 different pitchers for a staff whose ERA is 5.15, the worst in baseball.

"There is light at the end of the tunnel," Torborg says. "We've been using kids we normally would have held out like Greg Hibbard, Adam Peterson and Ken Patterson. But they're getting a chance and since they're our future, I'm hoping they'll respond. pitchers, worked the eighth. Jeff Reardon got the last out.

YANKEES 5, RANGERS 3 at New York Dave EHand, promoted to the major leagues earlier in the day, pitched seven effective innings as New York defeated Texas. Steve Sax got three hits, including a two-run single that broke a 3-all tie in the sixth inning. Steve Balboni added a two-run homer for the Yankees, who finished with 13 hits. Eiland, recalled from Class AAA Columbus, won his first big-league appearance of the season. The 22-year-old rookie, who made three starts for the Yankees last season, gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out three.

Eiland left after a leadoff single in the eighth by Rafael Palmeiro. Lee Guetterman allowed a single by Ruben Sierra, but then struck out Julio Franco and got pinch-hitter Buddy Bell to ground into a double play. Dave Righetti worked the ninth for his 11th save. RED SOX 6, WHITE SOX 1 at Chicago Dwight Evans' grand slam and a two-run homer by Nick Esasky powered Mike Smithson and Boston past Chicago. Evans' homer, his 10th, was the Red Sox' first in seven games.

He connected in the third inning off Melido Perez, 3-9, after the Red Sox had loaded the bases on a walk, a hit batsman and an infield single by Mike Greenwell. It was Evans' second bases-loaded homer of the season and fifth lifetime. He had a grand slam against Oakland on May 19. INDIANS 4, ROYALS 3 at Cleveland Joe Carter homered and singled to drive in a season-high four runs and Scott Bailes won in his first start of the season as Cleveland edged Kansas City. The left-handed Bailes, 2-2, worked eight innings, allowing three runs on six hits in his first win as a starter since last August.

Doug Jones pitched the ninth for his 15th save in 18 "1 Wire service reports The competition for baseball's Managers of the Year is as interesting as the pennant races this season. In the American League, Baltimore's Frank Robinson and Oakland's Tony LaRussa are the top contenders, with Toronto's Cito Gaston a longshot. The Orioles are making a strong bid to become only the sixth team since the divisional format began in 19C9 to improve by 25 or more victories in one year. Baltimore won only 54 games last season, and could match that shortly after the All-Star Game break. A .500 finish would be a 27-game improvement and might be enough to make a more mellow and patient Robinson the Manager of the Year for both leagues.

LaRussa has guided the Athletics to the best record in the majors despite a long list of injuries to key players, including 1988 MVP Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and relief ace Dennis Eckers-ley. National League Giants' Mitchell mashes 24th in 8-1 victory By The Associated Press Kevin Mitchell, whose two-run homer contributed to the San Francisco Giants' 8-1 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday, knows the best way to beat the Reds. He learned his lesson Friday night when Cincinnati scored three runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Giants, 5-4, and pull within one-half game of the division lead. "You have to jump on them because they won't die," Mitchell said after his homer off Danny Jackson, 5-9, in the third inning built a 5-1 lead for rookie lefthander Dennis Cook, 1-0. "The Reds keep coming at you, so you can't go into the ninth inning with only a one-run lead against them," added Mitchell, who leads the major leagues with 24 home runs and 65 RBIs.

The nomer was his first in seven games. Cook yielded a leadoff homer to Paul O'Neill in the second inning and blanked the Reds the rest of the way on a six-hitter. He also had an RBI triple in the eighth for his first major-league hit. The Reds may have lost more than a game. Shortstop Barry Larkin, the National League's batting leader at .361, suffered a hyperextended left knee on a fielding play at second base in the second inning and left the game in the sixth.

Barry was injured when Greg Litton slid hard into second on a force play. Larkin's injury is regarded as mild but there is greater concern about Jackson's shoulder. The pitcher said he had pain during the first four innings and was to return to Cincinnati today for an examination. Cook walked three, two in the first inning, and struck out four for his second major-league complete game in six starts. METS 1, PHILLIES 0 at Philadelphia Bob Ojeda pitched a three-hitter and Kevin McReynolds doubled home the game's only run with two out in the first inning.

Ojeda, 4-6, walked one and struck out six in pitching his second straight complete game and third of the season. It was the Mets' first complete-game shutout of the season. In his last two starts, both complete-game victories, Ojeda has allowed one run and nine hits while striking out 12 and walking three. CUBS 3, EXPOS 2 at Montreal Rick Sut-cliffe pitched Chicago back into first place in the National League East by scattering six hits over 7V3 innings and helped his own cause with a sacrifice bunt that set up the winning run as the Cubs edged Montreal. With the score tied 2-2, Domingo Ramos opened the Chicago seventh with an infield hit off Pascual Perez and Sutcliffe sacrificed him to second.

Ramos scored the winning run on a single by Jerome Walton. The Cubs, who yielded first place to Montreal on Friday night when they dropped their third straight, are one-half game ahead of the Expos and one game in front of the New York Mets. The St. Louis Cardinals are two games out. PIRATES 7, CARDINALS 2 at St.

Louis Jeff Robinson, making his first start in nearly three years held St. Louis to one run in five innings as Pittsburgh beat the Cardinals. Robinson, 3-6, allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four in his first start since Aug 21 1986. He had made 194 straight relief appearances since that start. Bob Kipper held the Cardinals to one run over the last four innings to earn his second save St Louis starter Jose DeLeon, 8-5, took the loss.

He gave up seven hits and six runs in 6'3 innings PADRES 2, ASTROS 1 at San Diego Jack Clark greeted Houston reliever Danny Darwin with a two-run homer in the eighth inning, lifting San Diego over Houston. Houston starter Jim Deshaies entered the eighth with a five-hit shutout but allowed a lead-off single to Tony Gwynn, his fourth hit of the game after snapping a 1-foM6 slump. Darwin, 5-2, took over and Clark hit his eighth home run of the season. The victory went to Greg Harris, 3-2, who pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Dennis Rasmussen. Despite losing for only the fifth time in their last 22 games, the Astros dropped into second place in the National League West, one game behind San Francisco.

RAVES 2, DODGERS 1 at Los Angeles Dion James hit his first home run of the season off major-league ERA leader Mike Morgan as Atlanta beat Los Angeles. Morgan, 5-5, lost for the third time in his last four decisions despite lowering his ERA to 1.55. The right-hander, who had surrendered the fewest home runs among Dodger starters coming into the game, allowed his fourth when James hit a 1-2 pitch leading off the fifth inning. Morgan yielded five hits in eight innings. Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda, who has been coaching at third base since last Sunday, was ejected by rookie umpire Mike Winters as he walked toward home plate to talk to him at the end of the sixth inning.

Lasorda was upset earlier in the inning over a strike called against Kirk Nolan Ryan allowed seven hits in 823 innings and became the sixth pitcher in major league history to defeat all 26 teams as Texas beat the California Angels in the first game of Wednesday's twi-night doubleheader. Doyle Alexander, Gaylord Perry, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez and Rick Wise are the only other pitchers to defeat all 26 teams. Ryan, 8-3, pitched for the Angels from 1972-1979. Ryan, 42, andCharlie Hough, 41. Wednesday became the second pair of pitchers over 40 to start a doubleheader for the same club in the last 56 years.

The other time was in 1986 when Tommy John, 43, and Joe Niekro, 41, started for the New York Yankees. A's lose From page 1B to do more than we could or should. "Right now, our execution at the plate is not the best and we're seeing good pitching. Any one of those two change, we'll score more runs." La Russa said a club only controls its own execution. Orioles starter Jose Bautista, 3-4, who pitched six innings and picked up the victory, and relievers Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson kept the A's off balance.

Olson didn't give up a hit in his 1 innings of work to earn his eighth save, although he did have a scare with two runners on base in the ninth when Glenn Hubbard flied out to the warning track. "This is a team game," Oakland catcher Terry Steinbach said. "I think we have to get back to doing our own part. Maybe we're pushing too much offensively. The loss was the second in a row for the A's in the series between American League division leaders.

The Orioles have won two of the first three games of the series, which ends today. McGwire's home run his 14th with Dave Parker on first base gave the A's a 2-0 lead. But Bautista, who is fast becoming an A killer, stopped Oakland on two runs and five hits in six innings as he made his first appearance since June 6 with Class AAA Rochester. Bautista, who hadn't itched for a month in the major leagues ecause of back pain, is 2-0 lifetime against Oakland. Matuszak From page 1B partying in New Orleans the night before the Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 in the 1981 Super Bowl.

Matuszak played with the Raiders from 1976 to 1981, including two Super Bowl championship teams. He was on injured reserve during the 1982 season, when the club moved to Los Angeles. Matuszak, a native of Milwaukee, started his college career at Missouri but transferred to Tampa. The Houston Oilers made Matuszak the No. 1 pick in the 1973 NFL draft.

He played in 1975 with the Kansas City Chiefs, then joined the Raiders as a free agent just before the second game of the 1976 season. Following his retirement from pro football, Matuszak worked as an erstwhile actor, starring in a short-lived 1985 prime time television series, "Hollywood Beat." He played George Grinsky, a huge gay informant whose business was used by undercover cops working in Hollywood. He also appeared in such movies as "North Dallas Forty," "Caveman" and "Ice Pirates," and made frequent appearances on television, including "MASH," "Trapper John, M.D." and "The Fall Guy." He also wrote his biography, "Cruisin' With The Tooz." Matuszak's wild partying eventually landed him in court. On June 5, 1986, an Alameda County Superior Court jury ruled in favor of Matuszak in a $1.5 million lawsuit in which the retired defensive end was accused of beating up a male stripper in a barroom brawl. The lawsuit alleged Matuszak crashed a ladies' night show at a Castro Valley, night club and threw male stripper Daniel Fisher over some tables and beat up the master of ceremonies.

The two alleged victims had sought $1.5 million in damages but Matuszak's lawyer argued he was being made a scapegoat because of his fame and financial success. to send Warren to the showers. Ports' first baseman John Jaha smacked his league-leading 13th home run of the year a two-run shot to right in the first inning. But Reno first baseman Milt Harper bettered Jaha with a three-run clout into the right-field net in the bottom of the first that gave the Sox a 3-2 lead. Sox second baseman Shawn Barton scored on a triple by Gary Nails in the sixth to tie the game at 5-5.

John Balfanz gave the Sox a 6-5 lead in the seventh with a solo home run to right field off reliever Bob Watts, who fell to 0-2. But the Ports tied the game at 6-6 when Jones tripled and scored on a fielding error by Balfanz. TAMPERING CLAIM St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog and general manager Dal Maxvill are scoffing at Montreal general manager Dave Dombrowski's claim of tampering with Expos left-hander Mark Langston. Herzog, after Montreal traded on May 25 for Langston, said of the acquisition: "Langston might never lose a game in our ballpark." American League was something nice to do.

Now, it's time to go on," he said. Abbott, 6-4, allowed nine hits and three runs in his first start against the Tigers. BLUE JAYS 3, MARINERS 2 at Toronto Toronto rallied in the ninth inning against Seattle relief ace Mike Schooler for the second straight game, beating the Mariners on Kelly Gruber's RBI single. Schooler entered the series with 14 saves in 15 opportunities, but has failed twice to hold one-run leads. Mike Jackson, 2-1, walked Manny Lee and Nelson Liriano with one out and the Mariners brought in Schooler, the fourth Seattle pitcher.

Schooler struck out Junior Felix, but Tony Fernandez singled to left to tie the game and Gruber followed with a shot to the alley in right center. On Friday night, Schooler's wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth allowed the winning run tc score. Reliever Duane Ward, 4-7, picked up the vie tory although his wild pitch on a third strike allowed Seattle to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth. TWINS 7, BREWERS 3 at Minneapolis Gary Gaetti drive in four runs and MinnesoU broke a tie with four runs in the eighth inning tc beat Milwaukee. Pinch-hitter Jim Dwyer singled with one out ir the eighth against reliever Mark Knudson, 2-2, took second on Al Newman's single and scorec on a single by Dan Gladden to make it 4-3.

Gaetti followed with a sacrifice fly and Gene Larkin and Carmen Castillo capped the rally with RBI singles. Lee funnell, 1-0, the third of five Minnesota and third base. He also inherited a 5-4 deficit. The right-hander, who pitched for the Clearwater Phillies a Class A Florida State League team in 1988held the Ports to one unearned run including retiring 13 in a row at one point allowing the Sox to play catch-up. "So far so good," said Clark, wearing a Silver Sox jacket over his wrapped right shoulder.

"My main concern was to keep the ball down and mix it up." Clark had only pitched seven innings coming into the game with Reno and began to tire in the eighth inning. He gave up a triple to Ports' left fielder Bobby Jones in the eighth. "I was getting tired, getting the ball up," Clark said. "This was the longest TO THE SHOWERS: Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog is ejected by umpire Gregory Bonin for arguing a strike caT'3'1 Angels' Abbott beats his heroes Wire service reports Jim Abbott is finding it's easy to live a fairytale life when most of your dreams come true. Saturday, the California rookie beat his boyhood heroes with home run help from Claudell Washington and Jack Howell as the Angels downed the Detroit Tigers, 6-3, at Detroit.

"It was nice. This was a longtime thrill for me," Abbott said. "I grew up here. This is my idea of what baseball is all about." Abbott, a former University of Michigan and Olympic star, pitched seven innings before a large group of family and friends who made the 70-mile trip from his hometown of Flint, Mich. "It was special today because my friends were here and my family was here," Abbott said.

"I've often thought of throwing here, but I always throught I'd be pitching for the Tigers. Somebody asked Abbott if the "fairytale" aspects of his remarkable career was overplayed. "To a little bit they are," Abbott said. "I kind of hope they'll become regular things. Maybe someday they'll become routine.

"But, right now, they're special while I do them and I realize why." Abbott also noted, with a smile, that the 1989 Tiger lineup doesn't much resemble the one he worshiped in 1984. "I don't want to build it up too much. It Silver Sox beat Stockton for third straight victory By Dan HinxmanGazette-Joumai Pitcher Garry Clark stood at the door of the Reno Silver Sox locker room dressed in street clothes, his right shoulder wrapped, the effects of pitching 6 innings Saturday night. One by one his teammates shook his hand and patted him on the back, congratulating him for a job well done. Clark retired 20 of the 23 batters he faced in relief as the Silver Sox defeated the Stockton Ports, 7-6, for Reno's third consecutive victory.

Reno improve to 30-39 and Stockton fell to 40-29. Clark, who was acquired by the Sox on June 6, entered the game with one out in the second inning and runners at second outing since I've been herp Mike Bosco scored from third base on an infield out by Bill Bluhm to break up a 6-6 tie and Joe Strong struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the victory for Clark, 2-0. Strong recorded his ninth save. Reno manager Eli Grba said he has a difficult decision facing him regarding Clark. "He's been doing an outstanding job since he got here (June 6)." Grba said.

"If he keeps that up we'll have to put him in the rotation. But it's nice having a guy like that in the bullpen." Mike Warren started the game for the Sox and ran into trouble right away. The Ports clubbed eight hits and scored five runs in the first l3 innings.