Sports

4

Page 16

Wednesday, August 11, 1982

The Michagan Daily


v

Tigers blast Yanks to end streak

v

By RON POLLACK
Specialtothe Daily
DETROIT- The Detroit Tigers found
a cure to their losing ways last night-
New York Yankee pitcher Doyle
Alexander (0-6).
Alexander's most frequent pitch was
the gopher ball, even more so than his
fast ball or curve ball, and the result
was a 10-1 Tiger victory to end a four
game losing streak.
ALEXANDER'S first pitch of the
evening was just a mere sample of what
was still to come as Lou Whitaker rip-
ped his first of two home runs to give
Detroit a 1-0 lead, and the home run
derby was on.
In the top of the second, New York's
Graig Nettles got into the act with a solo
blast into the right field upper deck to
knot the score at 1-1.
But in the second, third, and fourth
innings it was the Tigers' turn to
provide the power. Chet Lemon opened
the second stanza with a walk. After
Rick Leach flew out to left, Glenn
Wilson stepped to the plate and
proceeded to drill a two-run homer to
left field.
IN THE third inning, Enos Cabell led
off with a double and scored on a Lance
Parrish two-bagger. Richie Hebner
then upped the Detroit lead to 6-1 with a
two-run homer to the right-center field
upper deck.
At the beginning of the fifth inning,
Alexander was mercifully replaced by
Rudy May. But May fared no better
than his predecessor.
Wilson singled, Allan Trammell
doubled and Whitaker brought them
both home with a single to right to give
Detroit an 8-1 lead.
AT THIS time, the Tigers must have
begun worrying about their lead. After
all, they are no strangers to wasting
seven run leads. On Monday Detroit led
New York 7-0, only to lose, 9-7. There
was to be no replay of that last night,
however.

The reason was losing pitcher
Alexander's counterpart Jerry Udjar
(6-5) who only gave up four hits. With
the exception of Nettle's homer, the
Tiger righty had the Yankees com-
pletely baffled.
With one out in the fourth, New York
had men on first and second and only
one out. At that point Udjar retired six-
teen consecutive Yankee batters.
In the eighth inning Whitaker ended
the scoring with a two-run shot to the
right-center field upper deck.
Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 0
TORONTO (AP) Dave Stieb hurled a
two-hit shutout and Rance Mulliniks
slammed a two-run double to lead
theToronto Blue Jays to 4-Ovictory over
the slumping Boston Red Sox last night.
The Red Sox have lost nine of their
last 12 games, while Toronto has won
five ina row.
STIEB, 12-11, limited Boston to a
single to center by Carney Lansford in
the second and an infield single by Gary
Allenson in the third as he logged his
fourth shutout and 12th complete game
of the season - tying him for the league
lead in both categories.
The victory marked the first time
Toronto has beaten Mike Torrez, 7-7,
who came into the game with an 1-0
career mark against the Blue Jays.
Cubs 5, Expos 3
MONTREAL (AP) - Randy Martz
scattered six hits over the first seven
innings and Junior Kennedy drove in
two runs as the Chicago Cubs stretched
their winning streak to six games with a
5-3 victory over the Montreal Expos 1 st
night.
The Cubs have won eight of their last
nine, their nfost successful streak since
July, 1979.
MARTZ, 6-7, coming off a career-best
two-hit performance against New York
last Thursday, gave way to Willie Her-
nandez after Chris Speier opened the
eighth with his third home run of the
season and pinch-hitter Brad Mills
followed with the first of his major
league career.
Hernandez gaveupa one-out single to
Tim Raines, a double to pinch-hitter
Jerry White before Al Oliver's groun-
dout scored Raines with theExpos'
third run.
Pirates 9, Phillies 6
PHILADELPHIA (AP)- Mike
Easler's home run, single and four runs
batted in triggered the Pittsburgh
Pirates to a 9-6 victory over the
Philadelphia Phillies last night in the
completion of a game suspended Mon-
day night.
The game, the second of a twi-night
doubleheader, was suspended under a
National League rule which prohibits
resumption of play past 12:45 a.m.
following a rain delay.
THE GAME resumed before last
night's regularly scheduled contest,
with the Pirates batting in the eighth.
Four runs already had scored to erase a
6-5 Philadelphia lead.
There were two out and Lee Lacy on
second base and Tug McGraw pitching
for the Phillies, who had won the first
game 4-3.
Philadelphia took a 5-0 lead in the
third inning, keyed by Mike Schmidt's
three-run homer, his 23rd of the season.

YANKEE OUTFIELDER Dave Winfield leaps high, but can't get near
Glenn Wilson's two run homer in the second inning of last night's Detroit-
New York game. The Tigers won, 10-1.

Houston cans Virdon

HOUSTON (AP)- Houston Astros
Manager Bill Virdon was fired
yesterday and coach Bob Lillis was
named as an interim replacement.
John J. McMullen, the Astros'
chairman of the board, announced
the firing, saying it seemed "the ap-
propriate time to make the change."
THE ASTROS now are 49-62 and
fifth in the Western Division of the
National League. Virdon became the
Astros' manager in 1975.
Virdon's career managerial
record with the Astros was 544-522.
In 1980 they won the NL West title
and lost to Philadelphia in a thrilling
five-game championship series. In
last year's split season, Houston won
the second half before losing to Los
Angeles ina five-game playoff.
"We made ute aecision that the
Houston Astros were going to need a
new manager next year and in the
interest in both the ballclub and Bill
Virdon, this seemed to be the ap-
propriate time to make the change,"

McMullen said in a written
statement. "This will now give us
the next two months to go through a
list of possible candidates and begin
making our plans for next season.
Right now, we have a wide variety of
possible choices to make, but if we
wait until after the season, we run
the risk of people being locked up
with new contracts.
"We certainly wish Bill well,"
McMullen's statement continued.
"He is a fine gentleman and we are
sure he will be in another
managerial position in a short
time."
Lillis was one of the players selec-
ted by the Houston Colt .45s, the
Astros' previous name, in the 1961
expansion draft, off the St. Louis
Cardinals' roster. He played for
Houston during 1962-1967 and, during
1968-72, was a minor league scout in
the Astros' system. In 1973 he joined
team's coaching staff was was the
first base coach before succeeding
Virdon.

Virdon
... adds to unemployment rate