Indians Ring Victory Belle One More Time
American League
Albert Belle hit his major league-leading 36th homer, a three-run drive that capped a seven-run second inning Wednesday night, and the Cleveland Indians routed the Brewers 12-2 in Milwaukee.
Manny Ramirez also hit his 31st homer and Tony Pena had two RBI singles as the Indians won for the 12th time in 14 games and sent the slumping Brewers to their ninth loss in 10 games. The Indians lowered their magic number for clinching the A.L. Central to three.
Ken Hill (2-0) won for the first time in a month. He escaped a first-inning threat by allowing just one run, then took advantage of the seven-run rally to bury the Brewers on six hits over six innings.
Orioles 4, Angels 2 Baltimore
Rafael Palmeiro hit a pair of solo homers and Mike Mussina allowed two runs in 7-2/3 innings as Baltimore beat California on the night Cal Ripken eclipsed Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games.
White Sox 7, Rangers 5 Arlington, Texas
Lance Johnson hit his career-high 10th homer, a two-run drive in the sixth inning that led the White Sox past the Rangers and stretched Chicago’s winning streak to eight.
The White Sox came back with four runs and five straight hits in the sixth off Bob Tewksbury (8-6), who allowed six runs and 12 hits in six innings.
Red Sox 8, Athletics 2 Boston
Roger Clemens had a season-high 10 strikeouts, allowed two hits after the first inning and won his fifth straight decision as Boston beat Oakland.
Clemens (8-4) allowed four hits and four walks in eight innings. He has struggled with his shoulder, but is 5-0 with a 2.06 ERA since the end of July, lowering his ERA to 4.02.
Blue Jays 6, Royals 2 Kansas City, Mo.
Joe Carter hit a key two-run single as Toronto downed Kansas City.
Al Leiter (10-8) allowed eight hits in eight innings, struck out five, walked three and threw a season-high 136 pitches.
Twins 9, Tigers 1 Minneapolis
Rookie Frank Rodriguez allowed three hits over seven innings, helping Minnesota to a win against Detroit.
Marty Cordova’s RBI infield hit snapped a 1-1 tie in a six-run sixth inning that came after Tigers starter Jose Lima had held the Twins to one hit up to that point before a crowd of only 2,742.
Selig feels heat
Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig was booed at a hearing when he told Wisconsin lawmakers “we could take our team and go elsewhere” if taxpayers failed to help build a new ballpark.
“Take your suitcase and go,” replied an onlooker at the second of three legislative hearings on a plan to contribute $160 million in public money toward the $250 million convertible-roof stadium.
“Go! Go!” others chimed in.
Clearing the bases
New York owner George Steinbrenner said the future home of the Yankees must be determined by mid-1996, whether it is Yankee Stadium or another site…. Roger Clemens moved into 29th place in career strikeouts with 2,312, passing Juan Marichal (2,303) and Rube Waddell (2,310)…. Kansas City third baseman Gary Gaetti’s 32 home runs are his most since hitting 34 for Minnesota in 1986.