Page 16-Wednesday, June 27, 1979-The Michigan Daily SUMMERS AND MORRIS THE HEROES Tigers By JAMIE TURNER specialtotheDaily DETROIT-The Tigers took a page from the Baltimore Orioles book of late inning rallies last night, scoring three times with two out in the bottom of the eighth to down Boston, 6-4. Champ Summers' two out bases loaded single drove in Lynn Jones and Jason Thompson giving Detroit a 5-4 lead, and Aurelio Rodriguez singled in an insurance run as the Tigers won the opener of the three game series. Dennis Eckersley was coasting along with a 4-3 lead going into the eighth, his only mistakes being a bases empty homerun by Summers in the second inning and a two run shot by Rodriguez in the seventh. But after retiring Ron LeFlore to begin the eighth, Red Sox manager Don Zimmer opted to replace Eckersley SCOR ES Baseball National League Philadelphia 5. Chicago3 Pittsburgh 2, New York I Montreal5st. louis 3 Amerian League New r tk 1,Toronto 2 Deit 6, Booton, 4 Baltimore 4, Cleveland 3 Texas 2. California 1 rally to beat Bosox, 6-4 the seventh. After Summers singled one off the facing in left. with ace reliever Bill Campbell. Cam- with one out, Eckersley and Rodriguez A raucuos crowd of 36,247 watched phll got Rusty Staub in a popout to hooked up in a classic pitcher-hitter Morris collect his fifth win in nine third. But then the trouble began. duel. Eckerlsey quickly jumped in front decisions and his fourth complete Steve Kemp-who already had two with'a two strike count and kept hurling game. Campbell (2-3) picked up the loss hits-walks, stole second and pinch hit- fastballs. The Tiger third baseman in relief as Zimmer played the gambit ter Lynn Jones moved to third on a wild fouled each one off until finally lining of musical relievers. pitch while Campbell was in the midst of walking Thompson. Enter Dick Drago, who nicked Lance Parrish's uniform "0" to load theB o bases and set the tables for Summers. The Tiger rightfielder fouled off a 7J series of pitches before his 2-2 single decided the game. Boston opened the game's scoring in the second inning. Jim Rice, Carl NEW YORK (AP)-Bobby Murcer, once hailed as the man who would yastrzemski and Bob Watson bounced, take Mickey Mantle's place with the New York Yankees, is back again with looped and nubbed bases loading the world champions five years after they traded him away. singles with nobody out off Tiger star- Murcer was purchased by the Yankees from the Chicgo Cubs yesterday ter and complete game winner Jack after clearing major league waivers. In exchange for the veteran outfielder, Morris. the Yankees sent minor league pitcher Paul Semall and an undisclosed Morris nearly worked out of a jam, amount of cash to the Cubs. striking out the next two batters, but a "Financially it was a windfall for us," said Bob Kennedy, executive vice wild pitch and a Gary Allenson broken president of the Cubs. "The Yankees will assume his entire salary." bat single gave Boston a queasy 3-0 Murcer is in the third year of a 5-year, $1.6 million contract which pays lead, him $320,000 annually. The middle innings showcased a Murcer has longed expressed the desire to return to the Yankees where homerun derby. Summers opened he began his major league career as a shortstop in 1966. He was shocked Detroit's scoring with a solo shot deep when the Yankees, who had assured him he wouldn't be traded, dealt him to in the rightfield upper deck to bring San Francisco Oct. 22, 1974 in a deal which brought Bobby Bonds to New Detroit to within two. But,. Yastrzem- York. ski poled one higher and deeper to the This spring, Murcer was named captain of the Cubsand in 58 games this same location in the sixth, and the Red season he batted .258 with seven home runs and 22 runs batted in. For his Sox had an imposing 4-1 lead. career, he has a .279 batting average with 217 homers and 898 runs batted in. The Tigers climbed to within one in Semall was 6-3 in 13 starts at Columbus of the International League. High low Surprising Astros sailing By The Associated Press ERA while Williams is 2-3 with a 2.53 HOUSTON - "Dad, have the Astros ERA and both victories by shutouts. ever been in first place before?" a child Sambito yielded a grand slam home run asked his father as they watched a to St. Louis' Roger Freed on May 1 and game. has since appeared in 17 games and pit- "Sure son," the father replied ched 28% innings without allowing an patronizingly, "but never this late in earned run. the season." Knuckleball pitcher Joe Niekro Well, look again, Dad. became the first hurler in the major leagues to win 11 games this season EVEN THE most confirmed cynic is during a string that included a team finding it difficult to ignore the sur- record nine victories in a row, prising Astros, who still are perched The Astros have not been shelling op- atop the standings in the final days of posing pitchers. They are getting fewer June. hits than a year ago and rank near the They've never been in first place this bottom of the National League in team late in the season either and the hitting. But the hits have been timely, baseball experts who predicted a and Dennis Walling has been the most typical second-division finish for the punctual of all. He started this week Astros this season are putting this with 10 pinch hits in 18 tries for the strange phenomenon up for laboratory season. analysis. "I'm elated about this whole team," "Any discussion of our success has to said Walling, who ended lasdt week hit- start with the pitching staff," Astros ting .536 asa pinch hitter this season. Manager Bill Virdon said. "We've had some injuries but we've been able to T overcome them and still get the job acquisitions in obtaining shortstop done. ri enlsad ace lnAh Ken Forsch got the pitching staff off Craig Reynolds and catcher Alan Ash- to a rolling start with a no-hitter in the by and both have been factors in secod gae ofthe easo. Fosch Houston's rise, second game of the season. Forsch Another new face is right fielder Jeff later became one of four Astro pitchers Leonard, who was good enough to allow . to spend time on the 21-day disabled list Virdon to move Cedeno from center along with starters Vern Ruble and field to first base and send Bob Watson Frank Ricelli and reliever Tom Dixon. to the trading block. Despite their success, Virdon and the RANDY NIEMANN and Rick Astros have remained cautious. Williams were summoned from the Virdon says he'll get excited if the minor leagues to fill the injury gaps and Astros still are leading the league in air-tight relief by Joe Sambito has kept September. the Astros aloft despite lack of hitting. And the Astros have never been in Niemann has a 2-0 record and 2.18 first place in September either. . Ted's out, By The Associated Press ST. LOUIS - Ted Simmons said he knew it wasn't just another bad bruise when he awoke during the night to find himself ina pool of sweat. That, recalled the St. Louis Cardinals catcher, was almost as convincing as later X-rays which revealed a broken wrist bone that will sideline him four to six weeks. SIMMONS, THE wheelhorse of the St. Louis offense, suffered the injury at the base of his glove hand in the fifth in- ning of a game Sunday against the New York Mets. He remained in the game three more innings, but the Cards lost. They lost also in the completion of a suspended game against the Montreal Expos on Monday night and bowed again in the regular contest. Whether they can recover in Simmons' absence is doub- tful. "You build your lineup around cleanup," said third baseman Ken Reitz in an appraisal of what the loss of the No. 4 St. Louis hitter would mean. "THE WAY Keith Hernandez was hitting third and George Hendrick was hitting fifth, we were scoring some runs," said Reitz. "It's definitely not good, but you can't cry over it. Teddy would probably be the first to tell you we've got to forget it." With Simmons in the lineup, St. Louis was hitting a lusty .286 - and scoring runs in sufficient amounts to offset glaring deficiencies in pitching. A revamped batting order will have Hendrick hitting fourth, with Tony Scott moving up to fifth and Reitz sixth. Cards failing But below them are either Steve Swisher or young Terry Kennedy as catcher followed by the second baseman, either Mike Tyson or Ken Oberkfell. GARY CARTER, the hard-hitting catcher of the Expos, viewed the outlook for the Cardinals without Sim- mons and was not optimistic. "He was the big cog in their wheel," said Carter. "His being out will put ex- tra pressure on others. Simba was a big part of that ballclub, not only handling the pitchers but with his bat." The pity is, of course, that the Car- dinals were constructed around Sim- mons' leadership during what was ad- ding up to his finest season. He had 18 home runs and 52 RBI. His batting average was .321. ON JUNE 10, with Simmons hitting a homer, the Cards moved briefly atop National League East standings. Later they dropped eight of 10 games but were still clinging to second place when he was hurt. Manager Ken Boyer called the loss of Simmons "just another trial of life" and General Manager John Claiborne labeled it "history." But, Claiborne said significantly, "He was headed for Most Valuable Player. At least he'd have gotten my vote." Simmons, his wrist in a cast, was outwardly taking the stroke of misfor- tune better than those around him. "I just need a little rest, that's all," he said lightly. "There's nothing in the world I can do about it. I just have to take the bad with the good. Besides, I'll be back."