Darned Sox Are Out to Dry After 7-2 Birdbath

The Red Sox gave up all but the ghost yesterday, yielding timidly, 7-2, to Boog Powell and the Baltimore Orioles in Fenway Park, and falling five games off the pace with ten days left in the campaign.

Powell supplied the clout, with three hits--one a homer--and three runs batted in, while southpaw Mike Cuellar pitched well with men on base to keep the Oriole express one game behind the New York Yankees, who were also winning, 2-1, over the Cleveland Indians.

Birds Bomb Reggie

Baltimore jumped on Red Sox starter Reggie Cleveland for three runs in the first inning. Rich Coggins walked and Paul Blair promptly doubled off the wall in deep left center to chase him home. After Bobby Grich lofted a sacrifice fly to rightfielder Dwight Evans to send Blair to third, Powell delivered his first hit, a broken-bat blooper to center, to score Blair.

Don Baylor then walked, and Brooks Robinson singled to knock out Cleveland and give Cuellar, now 21-10, a comfortable lead.

Cleveland fared no better in New York. Bobby Murcer hit only his second Shea Stadium home run after he hit his first Saturday, to break a sixth-inning 1-1 deadlock and pace the red-hot Yanks to a sweep of the four-game series.

Pat Dobson, 17-15, tossed a three-hitter with mop-up help from Sparky Lyle. The Indians' only tally came in the first, as John Lowenstein walked, reached third on an error, and scored on a fielder's choice.

The Yankees made similar advances in the fourth against Cleveland hurler Bruce Ellingson, 1-1. Elliott Maddox walked with none out, went to second on a Murcer single, then to third on a long foul pop by Lou Piniella. Thurman Munson sacrificed him home to tie the game.

On Jersey St. in Boston, the Red Sox had much more trouble moving men around the base-paths. As 26,495 looked on, the Bosox hit Cuellar's assortment of slow pitches for eight hits and collected four walks, but stranded 11 men.

The Kenmore cabal scored in the fourth inning, after Dwight Evans walked and Deron Johnson broke up a no-hitter with a looper to right. Rick Burleson plated Evans with a smash single off the wall, to make it 4-1. In the top half of the frame, Powell's home run had given the Birds a 4-0 bulge.

Powell knocked in Baltimore's fifth run in the person of Grich in the fifth, before the Hose came back in the bottom of the inning. Tommy Harper and Juan Beniquez hit back-to-back singles with one out, advanced on Carl Yastrzemski's gound-out, and Evans's scratch hit scored Harper.

Although the Red Sox threatened to peck away at the Birds' lead to win, Cuellar was content with men on base and received superb defensive support with two stellar plays by shortstop Mark Belanger. Belanger saved one run with a stunning aerial stab of a Terry Hughes smash, to end the sixth inning and leave Burleson on second base.

Mounting Threat

The Red Sox mounted another threat in the ninth, when Hughes singled to left to open the frame. But when Tommy Harper bounced past Robinson at third, Belanger ranged almost as far Brookline Ave. to collect the ball then threw on to Grich for a force out.

Beniquez then singled to put runners on first and second with one out, but Yastrzemski and Evans grounded out to end the game.

The Red Sox have nine games left to catch the speeding Yankees and Orioles. The crucial games are in New York, with a twi-night double-header Tuesday and a single game Wednesday night. Even a Boston sweep in Shea might not bring them closer to Baltimore, which faces a relatively-easy eight-game finish against the Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers, the worst in the American League East.

Darrell Johnson, Red Sox manager, conceded last night that it will take a "miracle" to recapture first place and that the Hose must win at least two out of three in Queens, N.Y., to "stay alive."