Cleveland Finally Dispatches Oakland
American League
Manny Ramirez’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 13th inning scored Albert Belle to give the Cleveland Indians a 6-5 victory over the visiting Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
With one out in the 13th, Belle hit a grounder to third baseman Jason Giambi who committed a three-base throwing error. Alvaro Espinoza walked and Eddie Murray was intentionally passed, the last of 13 Cleveland walks in the game, bringing up Ramirez.
Ramirez lofted a fly ball to right field and Belle trotted home with the winning run without a throw.
Chad Ogea (3-0) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the win. Carlos Reyes (4-9), who replaced Todd Van Poppel to start the 13th after an apparent injury while warming up, took the loss.
Brewers 14, Rangers 4
Arlington, Texas
John Jaha had four hits and four RBIs and Milwaukee starter Ben McDonald survived a shaky outing as the Brewers pounded out 20 hits to snap Texas’ four-game winning streak.
McDonald (6-3) improved his career mark against Texas to 6-1 despite giving up five hits in the first two innings, escaping with one run.
Red Sox 9, White Sox 2
Chicago
Vaughn Eshelman stifled Chicago’s potent offense on six hits over seven innings and Mike Stanley homered to cap a seven-run seventh as Boston beat Chicago.
The loss ended a 10-game home winning streak for the White Sox, who lost for just the fourth time in 23 games overall.
Angels 11, Royals 9
Kansas City, Mo.
Damion Easley’s two-run single capped a three-run seventh to boost California past Kansas City, which twice blew four-run leads.
Orioles 12, Tigers 9
Detroit
Rocky Coppinger won his major-league debut and Cal Ripken had three hits and three RBIs as Baltimore stopped a four-game losing streak with a win against Detroit.
Ripken, Chris Hoiles and Mike Deveraux homered for Baltimore, which got two-run singles from Rafael Palmeiro, Brady Anderson and Manny Alexander to pace a 15-hit attack.
Yankees 6, Blue Jays 4
Toronto
Andy Pettitte allowed eight hits over 6-2/3 innings to become the league’s second 10-game winner as New York continued its domination over Toronto.
The Yankees have won seven straight at SkyDome and 16 of their last 17 against the struggling Blue Jays, who have lost six straight.
Clearing the bases
By the end of the week, Ripken’s reputation as the quintessential everyday player will spread all the way to the Far East. The Baltimore shortstop will play in his 2,216th consecutive game Friday in Kansas City, breaking the world record set by Japan’s Sachio Kinugasa. At that point, he will erase any doubt as to who is baseball’s all-time iron man… . Cleveland’s Belle, facing his fifth suspension in six years, is scheduled for a hearing Thursday on the appeal of his five-game penalty.