Sox Drop Season Opener, 5-1

Teddy Higuera shut out the Boston Red Sox on six hits for seven innings and Robin Yount drove in two runs yesterday as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the defending American League champions, 5-1, in the season opener for both teams.

The left-handed Higuera, who was 20-11 last season, was bolstered by a 12-hit attack and several key defensive plays on a windy day at County Stadium before a crowd of 52,285. Higuera struck out three and walked two.

Mark Clear pitched a hitless eighth and Dan Plesac worked the ninth, allowing a run on a single by Don Baylor and second baseman Juan Castillo's error.

Yount, playing in his 13th season opener, singled home a run in the first and hit an RBI double in the fifth as the Brewers chased Red Sox starter and loser Bob Stanley. Jim Gantner had three hits and Paul Molitor a triple and double for the Brewers.

Stanley, primarily a reliever throughout his career, started in place of Roger Clemens, who ended a 29-day holdout last weekend, and Dennis Boyd and Bruce Hurst, who are both nursing injuries.

Molitor led off the bottom of the first with a triple to right-center and scored on Yount's single to center.

Gantner started the fifth with a single, took second on a ground out and scored on Yount's double to left. Glenn Braggs singled home Yount for a 3-0 lead and Greg Brock followed with a single that finished Stanley.

In the sixth, Gantner singled home Bill Schroeder, who had doubled off Red Sox reliever Steve Crawford. Molitor's two-out double made it 5-0.