Alomar Slams Orioles Past A’S
Roberto Alomar hit his second career grand slam and drove in five runs and Rocky Coppinger pitched six shutout innings as the Baltimore Orioles pounded Oakland 11-0 Sunday.
Cal Ripken went 3 for 3 with two RBIs to help the Orioles gain their seventh win in nine games. Baltimore took two of three from Oakland and is 6-0-5 in 11 series this season.
Coppinger (1-0) limited the Athletics to three singles before leaving after facing two batters in the seventh. The right-hander struck out nine and walked four in lowering his ERA from 7.36 to 4.76.
Mike Johnson worked the final three innings for his second major league save. It was the Orioles’ fourth shutout; they had one last year.
Eric Davis got two hits, scored twice, stole two bases and drove in a run for Baltimore, which got 37 hits in the three-game series.
Blue Jays 1, Twins 0 Toronto
Pat Hentgen struck out 10 and pitched a four-hitter.
Bob Tewksbury lost despite a four-hitter. An RBI single by Carlos Delgado in the fourth inning sent the Twins to their 10th loss in 11 games.
Hentgen, last year’s Cy Young Award winner, walked only one and retired 17 straight batters at one point. It was his seventh career shutout and first complete game of the season.
Hentgen (2-1) gave up singles to Chuck Knoblauch and Matt Lawton in the first inning, but did not allow another runner until Lawton walked with one out in the seventh.
Yankees 13, Royals 5 Kansas City, Mo.
Tino Martinez homered twice and drove in four runs and New York hit five homers in a game for the first time since 1993.
New York last hit five home runs on July 22, 1993, against the Angels.
Martinez, who leads the majors with 40 RBIs, added a double and single to the Yankees’ season-high total of 19 hits. New York won for the 11th time in 15 games.
Rangers 7, Red Sox 6 Arlington, Texas
Bill Ripken, playing because Benji Gil was injured, singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as Texas rallied from a five-run deficit.
Boston led 5-0 in the fourth inning and 6-2 before Texas tied the score on Will Clark’s three-run homer in the fifth and Juan Gonzalez’ infield single in the sixth - his first RBI of the season.
Then in the seventh, Damon Buford doubled off Butch Henry (2-2) and Ripken singled for his fifth RBI in 29 at-bats this season.
Tigers 2, Indians 0 Cleveland
Detroit snapped a 13-game losing streak against Cleveland as the Indians were shut out for the first time since July 5, 1996, a span of 104 games.
After pitcher Willie Blair was injured, John Cummings relieved and retired seven straight and Doug Brocail pitched the ninth for his first save.
Detroit last beat the Indians in their final meeting of the 1995 season. The Tigers also broke a 15-game losing streak at Jacobs Field.
White Sox 4, Angels 2 Chicago
Frank Thomas hit a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and Albert Belle followed with an RBI single for Chicago.
Harold Baines hit a solo home run and RBI single for the White Sox, now 3-2 on their 11-game homestand. Chicago improved to 10-18, still the worst record in the American League.
Two errors on the same play put the Angels ahead 1-0 in the first inning. Jim Edmonds singled, and tried to steal second. Thomas made a wide throw from first base, and Belle overran the ball in left field for another error that allowed Edmonds to score.
Clearing the bases
Rafael Palmeiro’s 14-game hitting streak came to an end, but Baltimore teammate B.J. Surhoff stretched his to 12 games and Pete Incaviglia extended his to 10, one short of his career high… . Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez became the first Yankees hitters to connect for consecutive homers since the same pair did it last June 8 against Detroit… . The Yankees won their fifth consecutive series… . Jeff King walked in the third inning, giving him 14 consecutive games with a base on balls. He tied the Royals record set by John Mayberry in 1973… . Twins relievers are 0-4 with an 8.38 ERA in their last nine appearances.