Major League Baseball Roundup : George Bell’s Bat Has Its Say: 2 Homers, 6 RBIs

As usual, George Bell wasn’t talking to the media.

Despite hitting two home runs in a game for the sixth time this year, driving in six runs and leading the Toronto Blue Jays to their ninth straight victory to equal a club record, George Bell wasn’t saying anything.

Not that it made any difference. The outcome remained the same as the Blue Jays defeated the Orioles, 8-6, at Baltimore Thursday night for the 12th win in their last 13 games.

Going in the other direction are the Orioles, who have lost 8 straight and 12 of 13.

Bell’s second homer in the game was a grand slam, the third against Baltimore in two nights. Bell is the American League leader with 23 homers and 60 runs batted in. He has 5 home runs and 14 RBIs in his last four games.

“We’re doing a lot of things well,” Jesse Barfield said. “Besides the clutch hitting of George, others have been chipping in, and we’ve manufactured a lot of runs. We didn’t do that before.”

Toronto led, 7-1, before the Orioles rallied for five runs in the seventh, highlighted by Mike Young’s three-run homer.

Baltimore Manager Cal Ripken Sr., talking about his club’s losing streak, said: “It’s rough, no question about that. But we were out there battling.”

Ripken may have been battling a little too much Thursday. He was ejected for arguing a strike call against his son, Cal Ripken Jr., in the eighth inning. He said it had nothing to do with frustration or losing his patience during the losing streak.

“It was a 7-6 game, and that was an important pitch,” Ripken said. “If that was a ball, the pitcher has to bring the next pitch up. That’s the reason I got hot.”

Atlanta 6, Cincinnati 4--Glenn Hubbard’s two-run double broke an eighth-inning tie, and Gene Garber got his 200th career save as the Braves edged the Reds at Cincinnati.

Ken Griffey, who had three hits, including a home run in the fifth, led off the eighth with a single against Rob Murphy (3-2).

After Griffey stole second, Andres Thomas drew a walk, and both runners advanced on Ozzie Virgil’s sacrifice. Hubbard then lined his double into the right-field corner.

Garber pitched the final two innings for his sixth save of the season. He became only the sixth major league pitcher to reach 200 saves.

Milwaukee 8, Detroit 5--Tiger pitcher Eric King, trying to adjust to bullpen life, hit Bill Schroeder with an 0-2 pitch with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh inning at Detroit, forcing in the tie-breaking run.

Trailing 4-3 in the seventh, Milwaukee scored three runs on one hit to hand King (3-6) his second loss in two days. Detroit walked 12 batters in all.

Bill Wegman (5-5) was the winner. Chris Bosio pitched three innings for his second save, despite allowing Darrell Evans’ eighth homer.

Milwaukee’s Mike Felder had five hits to double his season total.

San Francisco 1, San Diego 0--Kelly Downs pitched a seven-hitter for his third shutout of the season as the Giants beat the Padres in San Francisco.

Downs (5-2) took over the National League lead in shutouts. He struck out 6 and walked 4. The right-hander escaped from two bases-loaded situations early in the game. He got Randy Ready to ground into a game-ending double play with runners at first and third.

Eric Show (2-8) and Lance McCullers combined for a three-hitter and retired the last 17 San Francisco batters. Show pitched six innings and gave up the three hits, including Matt Williams’ fly ball double in the third inning that led to the game’s only run.