Twins Stop Orioles From Repeat Of 1970

American League

Brad Radke handed Baltimore its first loss in five games with his second consecutive impressive start Saturday night as the Minnesota Twins downed the visiting Orioles 8-3 at Minneapolis.

Radke (2-0) allowed seven hits in seven innings, retiring 15 straight in one stretch, to prevent the Orioles from matching their best start since 1970. Radke, who struck out five and walked none, carried a two-hitter into the seventh before giving up two runs on three straight hits.

Dave Hollins, signed by the Twins as a free agent in December, homered off loser Jimmy Haynes (0-1) in the third inning to give Minnesota a 6-0 lead.

B.J. Surhoff went 3 for 4 with a homer and two doubles for the Orioles. Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripken committed his first error in 75 games, leading to an unearned run for Minnesota in the fifth.

Radke was relieved by Pat Mahomes after giving up back-to-back singles to start the eighth. Mahomes escaped the inning by retiring three straight batters.

Five of the Twins’ first seven hits against Haynes were for extra bases, including a two-run double by Greg Myers in the first.

Paul Molitor also doubled in the first, and later hit a sacrifice fly and a single. Molitor had five straight hits after going 3 for 4 on Friday.

Indians 5, Blue Jays 3

Cleveland

Charles Nagy gave up one run and six hits in six innings in his season debut as Cleveland won for the first time in four games this year, beating Toronto.

The Indians, who had scored just one run in each of their first three losses, benefited from six walks, three errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball, and scored five runs despite going 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

Rangers 4, Yankees 2

Arlington, Texas

Texas won its fourth consecutive game at the start of a season for the first time since 1992 as Bobby Witt outdueled Jimmy Key of New York.

Witt (1-0) gave up six hits and two runs in six innings, striking out five and walking three. After walking Gerald Williams in the seventh, Gil Heredia relieved and immediately picked off Williams. Mike Henneman pitched the ninth for his first save with Texas.

White Sox 8, Angels 4

Anaheim, Calif.

Alex Fernandez pitched eight-plus innings to win his eighth straight decision and Frank Thomas hit a two-run homer to lead Chicago over California.

Fernandez (1-0) carried a four-hitter into the ninth before giving up three straight hits, including back-to-back homers to Jim Edmonds and Tim Salmon.

Royals 7, Red Sox 3

Kansas City, Mo.

Boston dropped to 0-5 for the first time since 1966 as Bip Roberts’ pinch double keyed a five-run Kansas City eighth.

The Red Sox took a 3-2 lead into the eighth, but Joe Vitiello hit an RBI double off Stan Belinda (0-1) and Roberts doubled in two runs. Johnny Damon doubled in another run and Keith Lockhart hit an RBI single.

Tigers 6, Athletics 1

Las Vegas

Felipe Lira and two relievers teamed on a five-hitter and Melvin Nieves had four extra-base hits as Detroit beat Oakland.

Nieves, acquired three weeks ago in a trade with San Diego, had a home run, two doubles and a triple. He also scored three runs.

Robert Higginson and Cecil Fielder also homered for the Tigers.

Puckett improves

Kirby Puckett’s vision has improved by half since his last visit to the eye specialist, but it’s still a wait-and-see situation for the Minnesota Twins outfielder.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan learned the prognosis in a telephone conversation with Dr. Bert Glaser, a specialist working with Puckett at the Retina Institute of Maryland.

“It’s good to hear, but he’s still got a ways to go until you expect him to start working out,” Ryan said. “But his eyesight has improved considerably within the past week.”

Glaser has been unable to determine why a blood vessel behind Puckett’s right eye became partially blocked, blurring the vision of the 10-time all-star.