Attendance Not As Low As Thought

American League

Despite some exceptionally small crowds, baseball attendance during the first week of the season was down only 4 percent from last April - partly due to heavy discounting by some teams.

“Given the situation of not having a lot of time to promote, it’s much too early to make any judgment,” acting commissioner Bud Selig said Sunday. “When there’s warmer weather and races heat up, attendance will improve.”

For the 66 games during the first week of the season, teams sold 1,863,463 tickets, an average of 28,234.

Last April, teams sold 9,290,363 tickets for 317 games, an average of 29,307. The season average was 31,611.

Before the strike, Toronto had drawn more than 4 million fans for three consecutive seasons. Even though they fell out of the pennant race last season, the Blue Jays averaged 49,287 for 59 home games at the SkyDome.

Last April, the Blue Jays averaged 48,129 for 11 home games. For their first five home games this year, they averaged just 37,654.

Baseball executives said the strike caused them to lose a lot of group sales, business that won’t be completely recovered until next season.

To help attendance, the Milwaukee Brewers players threw their caps into the stands. Jose Canseco of the Boston Red Sox spent about 5 minutes outside Fenway Park on opening day greeting fans.

Indians 7, Rangers 6 (12)

Arlington, Texas

Albert Belle and Eddie Murray each singled and scored in the 12th inning Sunday, ending Cleveland’s eight-inning span of wasting runners and giving the Indians their victory over Texas.

Jose Mesa (1-0) gained the victory in his first appearance of the year, despite giving up a leadoff home run to Dean Palmer in the 12th inning. The homer was Palmer’s second of the season.

Royals 9, Yankees 3

Kansas City, Mo.

Kevin Appier, pitching on three days’ rest, struck out eight in six innings in leading Kansas City past New York and preventing a three-game sweep by the Yankees.

Gary Gaetti drove in four runs for the Royals. The Yankees lost for the first time after three wins.

Angels 5, Blue Jays 3

Toronto

Gary DiSarcina homered, tripled and drove in three runs, leading California past Toronto.

With the score tied at 3, Spike Owen drew a leadoff walk from Paul Menhart (0-1) in the seventh and Andy Allanson was hit by a pitch. DiSarcina followed with a triple to the wall in left-center field.

Orioles 6, Twins 3

Minneapolis

Jeffrey Hammonds hit a three-run homer and Arthur Rhodes struck out a careerhigh nine as Baltimore powered its way to victory.

Hammonds’ home run in the second inning gave the Orioles a 4-0 lead. Chris Hoiles and Brady Anderson added solo shots off Scott Erickson (0-2). Baltimore has hits nine home runs in five games.

White Sox 17, Red Sox 11

Boston

Ron Karkovice hit his fifth career grand slam, tying a team record and leading Chicago to its first win of the season.

Jose Canseco and Mo Vaughn each hit their first home run for Boston. Mike Devereaux had a two-run shot for Chicago, which won despite making six errors.

Brewers 4, Athletics 3

Milwaukee

Pat Listach’s seventhinning single broke a 2-2 tie and rookie Mark Kiefer pitched three perfect innings in relief to lead Milwaukee past Oakland.

Kiefer (2-0) retired all nine batters he faced in the fifth through seventh innings, striking out two.