May  8, 1991, Wednesday, City Edition

SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 53
LENGTH: 488 words
HEADLINE: He won game in style; Erickson fashions another victory
BYLINE: By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

 BODY:
    As much as he might love those Red Sox, let's begin with his own stirrups. Just like his sinking fastball, Scott Erickson likes them nice and low. So low, in fact, that from a distance it appears he's wearing black high tops.

   "Everybody thinks I'm wearing black socks, but I'm not. It's part of the regular uniform. I just like them low," he said. "The Reds did it back in the 70s. I'm not trying to be different or anything, it's just the way I've always worn them. I've done it ever since junior college, and just I like it that way."

   Period. End of fashion statement.

   Erickson proved last night that he is far from trendy.  The righthander, 23, hurled eight masterful innings of shutout ball in a 9-3 victory over the Red Sox before Tom Brunansky broke up Erickson's bid for a club record 31 consecutive scoreless innings with a three-run homer in the ninth.

   "Bruno's shot was a bomb. It wasn't a cheap one, it was an absolute bomb," marveled Twins manager Tom Kelly. "But for the kid to come in here and beat that lineup for the second time in a row, that's pretty impressive."

   Not quite as impressive, though, as the groove Erickson has been in his last two outings. After losing his first two decisions, both by 3-0 scores, against Oakland and Seattle, Erickson secured his first victory of the season with a 4-3 triumph over the Angels by working 7 1/3 innings. He pitched shutout ball the final four innings.  In his next turn, Erickson faced Seattle again and notched his first major league shutout with a complete game 6-0 victory.  Then, in his first outing against Boston May 1, Erickson two-hit the Townies for his second consecutive shutout.

Impressive. Especially for a guy who at the beginning of last season toiled in Double A ball at Orlando, Fla., before making his major league debut June 25 with a 9-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.

   "He's looking very confident on the mound right now," Kelly said. "It's easy to say that he looks like a world-beater right now."

   Erickson entered the game with 22 straight scoreless innings and a 1.58 ERA that ranked fifth in the league, and as he stood on the mound in the ninth poised to surpass Frank Viola's club record for consecutive scoreless frames, he looked downright Clemensesque.

   Brunansky, though, preserved Viola's mark, launching a smart bomb that found nothing but net over the wall in left. In addition to ruining Erickson's shutout, Brunansky also shattered any dreams Erickson had of matching Orel Hershiser's record of 59 consecutive scoreless frames.

   "I wasn't even thinking about it at that point," Erickson said.  "I was nowhere even close to thinking about that yet. I mean what he did was an unbelievable record, and I wasn't even halfway there yet."

   Considering what Erickson has accomplished to this point in his young career, you'd have to say his arrival has been about as outrageous as his ultracool, low-ride stirrups.