American League Roundup : Henke Becomes Strongman in Toronto Bullpen

After finishing second to the runaway Detroit Tigers in the American League East, the Toronto Blue Jays assessed their prospects of doing better in 1985.

They concluded that their only hope was to shore up their bullpen. So, they put out a bundle of money and came up with two good ones--Bill Caudill and Gary Lavelle.

However, as the Blue Jays drive toward their first division title, the two relief pitchers with the big reputations are not doing the job.

Instead, Tom Henke, a 6-5 right-hander purchased from the minors for a mere pittance, has become the king of the bullpen.

Henke came to the rescue again Tuesday night at Arlington, Tex., choking off a Texas rally in the ninth to preserve a 5-3 victory that enabled the Blue Jays to increase their lead over the Yankees to seven games.

Since being called up at the end of July, Henke has made six appearances for the Blue Jays. He hasn’t quite been perfect, but he’s been close. He has won or saved a game in each appearance, three apiece.

Henke, dumped by the Rangers at the end of last season after appearing in 25 games, has pitched 11 innings and has not yielded a run. He has given up four hits and three walks and has struck out 13 batters.

It is a carryover from some sharp pitching Henke did for Syracuse of the International League earlier in the season. Before the Blue Jays bought him, Henke gave up only five earned runs in 51 innings and had one streak of 34 innings without an earned run.

“I’m a little surprised they brought me up,” Henke, 27, told the Associated Press. “If (Jim) Clancy hadn’t been hurt I wouldn’t be here.

“I have a slider and a split-finger pitch that I picked up in spring training. But my main pitch is a fastball. I don’t know if I’m throwing harder than ever, but I know my location is better.”

This was the second save for Henke against his old team. He especially enjoys helping beat his former club.

“They may say they treated me OK,” Henke told UPI, “but I don’t think they did. They wanted me as a short man but never put me in that situation. They didn’t do it at Texas nor did they do it at Oklahoma City. Sometimes they’d pitch me in long relief and sometimes they wouldn’t use me for a week.”

Henke saved the fifth win without a defeat for Tom Filer. Back-to-back home runs by Lloyd Moseby and Rance Mulliniks triggered a five-run first inning. But Dennis Lamp and Henke had to thwart the Rangers before the game was in the win column.

Chicago 4, New York 3--Ron Kittle hit his fifth home run in the last seven games and Carlton Fisk hit a two-run smash, his major league-leading 31st home run in this game at Chicago. But it took a sacrifice fly by Reid Nichols in the eighth to end the Yankees’ seven-game winning streak.

Marty Bystrom held the White Sox hitless for 4 innings, but Kittle spoiled his shutout with his 13th homer and Fisk spoiled his bid for a victory in the seventh.

Britt Burns (12-7) gave up eight hits in eight innings to win and Bob James picked up his 20th save.

Kansas City 6, Boston 3--The joy of a hot pennant race and a battle for the batting title, are bringing out the best in George Brett. In this game at Boston as the surging Royals moved to within two games of the Angels, Brett went 4-for-5 to take over the lead in the batting race and help the Royals hand the Red Sox their fifth loss in a row.

Brett is batting .358, two points better than Wade Boggs of the Red Sox who went 2 for 5.

Darryl Motley’s three-run home run in the fifth enabled Bret Saberhagen to improve his record to 14-5.

Dan Quisenberry pitched the ninth to pick up his 27th save.

Minnesota 8, Oakland 1--Mickey Hatcher hit a three-run home run, his first home run since the first week of the season, at Minneapolis, to pace the Twins’ 17-hit attack, the club’s high for the season.

The Twins clobbered Tommy John for 11 hits and six runs in 2 innings.

Detroit 5, Milwaukee 4--Bob Gibson retired the first 14 batters he faced in relief at Milwaukee, but gave up a home run to Lou Whitaker to open the 13th and wound up a loser when Nelson Simmons singled in another run in the inning.

Ted Simmons homered for the Brewers in the bottom of the 13th but it was too little too late.

Baltimore 8, Cleveland 4--A two-run home run by Mike Young, his second of the game, snapped a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning at Baltimore and led the Orioles to victory.

The two home runs gave Young six home runs in the last 12 games.

Young’s second home run, his 17th, gave Don Aase the victory. Aase gave up the tying run in the top of the eighth on George Vukovich’s run-scoring double.