Back in the days when Roger Clemens and Jack Morris were growing up, there used to be great pitching duels all the time. There was Koufax-Marichal and Gibson-Drysdale, Seaver-Carlton and Palmer-Hunter, and it seemed like they happened three and four times each season.
Nowadays, they don't have those kinds of games much. Teams don't play each other as often as they used to, and pitchers don't pitch as frequently as they did.Once in awhile, though, a nice matchup comes along worth noticing. So it was Thursday night at SkyDome when Clemens, baseball's best pitcher these days, faced Morris, baseball's reigning best big-game pitcher.
Morris beat Clemens this time, tossing a four-hitter that led Toronto past Boston 4-0. The Blue Jays won their fourth in a row and the Red Sox have lost nine of 13.
"I've faced Morris many times, and if you don't get to him early, like any top-notch starter he'll settle in and get his momentum going," Clemens said.
Clemens had been 9-0 in his previous 12 starts against the Blue Jays. But Joe Carter, Dave Winfield and Pat Borders homered off Clemens, and that was plenty for Morris.
"There's no denying he's one of the great pitchers in the game today - probably the best," Morris said. "But he's been beaten before and he'll be beaten again."
Clemens (9-4) had won his last six starts overall and was leading the majors with a 1.56 ERA. He was trying to become baseball's first 10-game winner and began the game with an AL-leading 87 strikeouts.
Clemens had not lost to the Blue Jays since June 4, 1988. He beat Toronto 1-0 in April, a game in which he pitched seven innings and gave up three hits while striking out 11.
Morris (7-3) pitched his first shutout since Game 7 of the World Series last October. He walked three and struck out two in his fifth complete game of the season and his 27th regular-season shutout. He won his third straight decision.
"I don't know if I'd call this my best performance of the year," Morris said. "Maybe after the sixth inning. That's about the time all my pitches started to click."
Clemens gave up seven hits and left after Winfield's solo home run in the eighth inning made it 4-0. He struck out seven and walked three.
Carter, who homered, tripled, doubled and drove in four runs Wednesday night in New York, put Toronto ahead with a two-run homer in the third inning. Carter's 12th home run of the season came with two out.
"I liked the way I was throwing the ball," Clemens said. "But those first two runs really hurt. They were magnified in this situation because I was trying to throw zeroes."
Borders hit a solo homer, his sixth, in the seventh inning. Winfield hit his 10th home run of the season and the 416th of his career in the eighth.
Angels 4, White Sox 0
Bert Blyleven got his 281st victory and stopped California's six-game losing streak. Chicago had won four in a row.
Blyleven (2-0) gave up four hits in six innings and struck out four. At 41, he has pitched well in his three starts since missing 11/2 seasons because of two shoulder surgeries.
Joe Grahe, shifted from being a starter to a stopper since Bryan Harvey was sidelined with elbow trouble, pitched 22/3 innings for his first major league save.
Orioles 7, Tigers 5
Joe Orsulak hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Baltimore won at Tiger Stadium. The Orioles have won four of five and Detroit has dropped four of five.
Orsulak's first home run of the season capped a four-run inning against Bill Gullickson (7-4). Orsulak was 9 for 22 (.409) lifetime against Gullickson before connecting.
Rob Deer hit his 16th home run for Detroit and nearly became the fourth player ever to clear the left field roof. Deer's homer landed on the roof and bounced back onto the field. Travis Fryman also homered for Detroit.