Mesa Still Perfect As Cleveland Rolls
American League
Jose Mesa tied a record with his 36th save in 36 tries and the Cleveland Indians came back from a five-run deficit to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-5 Friday night.
Albert Belle homered and doubled as the Indians improved baseball’s best record to 69-34 and widened their A.L. Central lead over the Brewers to 17 games.
Mesa, with a scoreless ninth, matched Dennis Eckersley’s major-league record for consecutive saves without a blown opportunity in one season, established in 1992. San Francisco’s Rod Beck converted a record 41 straight opportunities over a span of three seasons.
Belle led off the Indians’ two-run second with a double off Ricky Bones (7-9), then started the three-run fourth with his 27th home run. It was his sixth consecutive hit over two games.
Mark Clark (7-5) won despite falling behind 5-0 in the second inning.
Yankees 7, Angels 3
Anaheim, Calif.
Ruben Sierra drove in the tying run and two insurance runs as New York beat California and gained a game in the wild card race on Texas and Milwaukee.
Mike Stanley also had three RBIs and Jack McDowell won his third straight start for the Yankees, who evened their record at 2-2 on a 13-game road trip. It was New York’s first victory in four games this season at Anaheim.
Tigers 3, Twins 1
Detroit
Sean Bergman outdueled Jose Parra to give Detroit its eighth victory in 34 games since the All-Star break.
Bergman (5-8) ended his two-game losing streak, allowing seven hits in seven innings with four strikeouts and two walks. John Doherty pitched the final two innings for his third save of the season, allowing just one hit.
Royals 10, Blue Jays 3
Toronto
Wally Joyner had a grand slam and five RBIs and Greg Gagne had a homer and two RBIs as Kansas City beat Toronto.
The Royals started the game with six straight hits and batted around in the first inning to take a 5-0 lead. Gagne’s homer in the third and Joyner’s grand slam in the sixth - the fifth of his career - made it 10-0.
White Sox 3, Rangers 1
Chicago
Tim Raines and Lance Johnson each had three hits, scored a run and drove in a run to lead Chicago over Texas.
Orioles 8, Athletics 4
Oakland, Calif.
Rafael Palmeiro’s three-run homer highlighted a six-run second inning and Rick Krivda got his first major-league win as Baltimore defeated Oakland.
Clearing the bases
Phil Rizzuto, a Yankees broadcaster for 39 years, a member of the Hall of Fame and perhaps the most popular announcer in New York, said he has quit his job.
Rizzuto’s decision stemmed from not being allowed to attend the funeral of Mickey Mantle.
He left the booth after five innings, too distraught to continue, and left the stadium.
“After I saw the funeral on television, I said, ‘This is terrible. I’ll never be able to make up for that.”’