European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Puerto Rico beats . 73-63gold escapes men s basketball team by Fred Lief Havana Cuba up1 a the . Menus basketball team will Fly to Miami again Only it won t have to worry about declaring Gold at customs. All the Jacuzzi gleaming bathrooms and gourmet food proved of Little consequence thursday night when puerto Rico beat the United states 73-68 in the semifinals of the pan american games. However there was a luxury the United slates did without a Jim Jackson the All America guard from Ohio state who was sidelined with a stress fracture in his left foot. A anytime you lose your leading scorer its going to make a difference a . Coach Gene Keady said. A but he Wasny there so he did no to make a  had the United states won Jackson would have been unable to play in saturdays finals. That will now be left to puerto Rico and Mexico which beat Cuba 93-87 Inthy  pan american games Day nights other semifinal. The United states 5-1 will play Cuba 2-4 saturday for the Bronze. The puerto rican Victory sent yet another signal that International basketball is no longer the preserve of the United states. The defeat Conics five Days after the . Women fell in the semifinals to Cuba and Marks the second straight pan am title the . Men failed to win. They lost in the 1987 finals to Brazil in the heartland of american basketball a Indiana. The importance of a Gold medal in Havana was underlined by the teams itinerary. While other teams made do with the limited practice Sites and modest accommodations at the pan am Village the . Basketball team shipped out. Usa basketball the National body governing Amateur basketball said nothing was too Good for its play ers. It opened its Wallet and registered the team in luxury suites in Coconut Grove Fla. The players returned to Havana for games As if they were executives jetting in to close a Deal. A a done to even Evaste your breath on that a Keady said of the strategy to shuttle the team. A a it a not fair to these  the United states thursday night confronted a Tough experienced team. Two puerto rican players a Ramon Rivas and Jose Ortiz a spent time in the Aba. Many played major College Ball in the United states and now play professionally in Spain. That the puerto Picans did not celebrate deliriously was telling. This was a team that believed from the outset it could win. It was not the Bahamas and it was not Uruguay. Puerto Rico rallied from a 37-29 deficit at halftime see pan am on Page 27 the stars and stripes August 17,1991 b. Page 28 giants duo 2-hits reds for 4-1 win san Francisco apr the reds lost their Cool and their 25th game in 35 thursday night As Paul Mcclellan gave up one hit in 7�?~a innings and the giants Defeated Cincinnati 4-1. Before the reds left the dugout for the fourth inning starter Jose Rijo exchanged words with third baseman Chris Sabo and the two had to be restrained by other no games on Page 26 several teammates and manager Lou i Niello. An error by Sabo in the third enabled the giants to score two unearned runs against Rijo. Mcclellan 3-1 Ami Dave Righetti combined on a two hitter with Righetti getting his 19th save. The game was scoreless when Kirt Manwaring led off the giants third with a single and Jose Uribe walked. Both runners moved up when Rijo walked As be spun to throw to first base while first baseman Hal Morris was charging expecting a bunt. After two outs Robby Thompson hit a grounder that went off sabots Glove for an error allowing Manwaring to score. Will Clark followed with a single scoring Uribe for the giants second run and later doubled Home a run for his 18th rib in his last 15 games. Rijo 8-4 gave up Lour hits struck out seven and walked two in seven innings. Rijo had won seven of his previous eight decisions and two of three since coming off the disabled list on july 25. The giants won their seventh game in nine and moved to .500 for the second time since they were 6-6 on april 21. Mcclellan pitched five perfect innings before giving up carmelo Martinez s Lead off Homer in the sixth inning Martinez hit Mcclellan a first pitch Well beyond the Wall in the left Field Corner. Candy Maldonado and Kelly Gruber Exchange High fives after Grubert a two run Homer that helped Toronto top Milwaukee. Blue jays snap 7-game skid Milwaukee a the Blue jays ended their longest losing Steak in four years thursday then turned their focus toward a weekend showdown with the second place tigers. The Blue jays beat the Brewers 4-1 on thursday snapping a seven game losing other Al games on Page 26 Streak and salvaging one Victory in the three game series. A to lose three in a Row Here to lose this game and head to Tiger stadium with a loss would have been bad a blues lays manager Cito Gaston said. But can a team build momentum with one Victory a of course a said third baseman Kelly Gruber who was in a 3-for-26 slump before hitting a fourth inning Homer off Dan Plesic. A without trying to make it More than it seems we need every win we get. Its basically pretty obvious the importance of each  Toronto had t lost seven straight since a season ending slide from sept. 28 to oct. 4. 1987, that Cost them the Divi Sion title. The Blue jays begun thursday with  Lead Over the tigers. A i think its a big series for us a Gaston said. A a it a the last time we see them and the last time they see us. There Are three games there and if somebody sweeps the other Guy then its going to mean a  Todd Stottlemyre 11-5 gave up four hits in seven innings thursday for just his second Victory in eight starts and first since july 19. Duane Ward pitched the eighth and Tom Henke pitched a perfect ninth for his 26th save in 27 chances. A i did no to go into game saying Well somebody has got to Stop it the losing Streak a a Stottlemyre said �?o1 went in thinking 1 had to get ready for every pitch and not look further ahead than the pitch 1 had to throw  Plesac 1-5a three time All Star As a reliever made the second Start of his major league career and went six plus innings his longest Outing Ever. He allowed five hits and three runs and walked five. �?o1 took at this As a positive. 1 did All i could to keep it close a Plesac said. A Danny pitched Well. His strike to Hall ratio was t Normal but he did stretch it to six innings and three runs in that amount of time is reasonable a Brewers manager Tom Trebelhorn said. The Blue jays took a 1-0 Lead in the second on de Spragues walk and Pat tablets rib double. Grubert a Homer in the fourth followed a single by Candy Maldonado. The Brewers Franklin Stubbs hit his 11th Home run in the fifth. Tabler hit a bases loaded sacrifice Fly in the eighth after Joe Carter doubled and Gruber and John Olerud walked. Inside sports Clearwater s record paces golfers a Page 22 Edberg Lendl suffer upsets a Page 22 yanks put Mattingly on Bench a Page 26 . Beats soviets in hockey a Page 27