Even In The Bronx, Fans Adore Ripken

American League

Fans started to stand at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday as Cal Ripken rounded first. By the time he touched the plate after his 11th homer, most of the 36,333 spectators had joined in the ovation.

“I’ve been pretty well-received wherever I’ve been this year,” said Ripken of his pursuit of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record. “But to get that ovation here by Yankees fans, well, that was special to me.”

Ripken deserved the accolades for his two doubles, two-run homer in the eighth inning and four RBIs his highest total in 90 career games at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees, striving to reduce first-place Boston’s lead in the A.L. East, did not merit applause for their performance in a 7-2 loss to Baltimore. With the Red Sox defeating Cleveland, New York trails Boston by 6 games.

Red Sox 9, Indians 5

Boston

Pinch-hitter Matt Stairs singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, allowing Boston to beat Cleveland for its seventh straight win.

The Red Sox swept the two-game series between A.L. division leaders, and sent Cleveland to its third consecutive loss.

Rangers 13, Tigers 5

Arlington, Texas

Ivan Rodriguez made Detroit pay for intentionally walking Will Clark, hitting a go-ahead single in the sixth inning in Texas’ win.

Lou Frazier drove in four runs and scored on Rodriguez’s single for a 6-5 lead. Otis Nixon had three of the Rangers’ season-high 17 hits.

Angels 9, Royals 1

Kansas City

Tim Salmon hit two home runs and J.T. Snow and Jim Edmonds also connected to lead California.

Chico Lind, who left the Royals in June for personal reasons and was later released, went 2 for 5 in his debut for the Angels despite booing from his former Kansas City fans.

A’s 6, Twins 3 (10)

Minneapolis

Geronimo Berroa doubled home the tiebreaking run in the 10th inning as Oakland defeated Minnesota. The A’s tied it in the ninth on Craig Paquette’s sacrifice fly off Dave Stevens (3-1). The Twins were held hitless in the last six innings.

Brewers 12, Blue Jays 7

Milwaukee

Milwaukee took advantage of 13 walks and Toronto pitcher Juan Guzman’s shortest start of his career to hand Toronto its sixth straight loss.

Reliever Rob Dibble got the Brewers out of a jam in the seventh, protecting a 5-4 lead, in his Milwaukee debut.

Chewing out the fans

There’s been another incident involving fans and visiting players at County Stadium.

Gabe Paul Jr., vice president of stadium operations for the Milwaukee Brewers, confirmed a report that Toronto Blue Jays infielder Ed Sprague threw a piece of chewing tobacco into the stands after some fans were “riding him” during Tuesday night’s 6-5 loss to the Brewers.

The tobacco didn’t strike anybody, but one of the fans wadded it up and tossed it back into the Blue Jays dugout, witnesses said.

Neither Sprague nor the fans were cited, and the matter was dropped, Paul said.

Sprague declined to discuss the incident Wednesday.

“Nothing happened. It was just the usual fan stuff,” he said, shrugging.

Clearing the bases

Boston’s Dave Hollins was put on the 60-day disabled list with a hammate fracture of his right wrist. He is expected to undergo surgery at the UMass Medical Center Friday or Monday… . Boston’s Aaron Sele will pitch at Double-A Trenton in Saturday as he continues his rehabilitation comeback… . Oakland’s Rickey Henderson left the game with a strained left hamstring in the fifth after running out a grounder.