AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians’ Candiotti Loses No-Hitter, Then Game

It is not really unusual for knuckleball pitchers to be involved in weird games. But still, the game Tom Candiotti of the Cleveland Indians lost Friday night at New York was a bit out of the ordinary.

With two out in the eighth inning, Candiotti’s knuckleball had been nearly impossible to hit and extremely difficult to catch all night.

He had a 4-2 lead and a no-hitter. Then everything went wrong. Candiotti didn’t retire another batter. He lost his no-hitter, and four unearned runs cost him the game, 6-4.

Steve Sax drew Candiotti’s second walk and shortstop Felix Fermin fumbled Jim Leyritz’s grounder for the third Indian error.

Rookie Oscar Azocar broke up the no-hitter with a ground single to center and it was 4-3. Reliever Doug Jones, who has 28 saves, served up a three-run home run to Mel Hall and Candiotti’s record fell to 11-7.

In 1958, a knuckleballer, Hoyt Wilhelm, then with Baltimore, pitched the last nine-inningno-hitter against the Yankees.

“I’ll tell you, I’d rather lose the no-hitter in the first inning and win the game,” Candiotti said.

“I pitched a one-hitter against Detroit in 1987 and lost that one late in the game. I was losing a no-hitter for a while in this game. No matter, I was enjoying myself out there.

“You don’t really get serious until the fifth or sixth inning. When I still had one going, the knuckleball was really dancing. I wanted it the worst way.”

At Yankee Stadium July 12, the Chicago White Sox’s Melido Perez pitched a six-inning no-hitter that was halted because of rain. And, later, the Yankees lost a no-hitter thrown by their own pitcher, Andy Hawkins.

Boston 14, Detroit 5--Shortly before this game at Boston, the Red Sox learned that their best relief pitcher, Jeff Reardon, has a ruptured disk in his lower back and will be out for the season.

They took their anger out on the Tigers. Ellis Burks hit a three-run home run to highlight a seven-run first inning and an 18-hit attack.

Rookie shortstop Tim Naehring and catcher Tony Pena also hit home runs, and the Red Sox increased their lead in the East to 1 1/2 games over Toronto.

Texas 9, Toronto 1--Jamie Moyer, making only his fifth start this season and loser of six in a row, pitched a three-hitter for his first victory since Sept. 10.

Steve Buechle hit a grand slam in the seventh inning, and the Rangers won their fifth in a row and 12th in their last 15 games. The Blue Jays had hammered Moyer for five runs in three innings last Sunday.

Chicago 6, Milwaukee 2--Frank Thomas tripled home the tying and go-ahead runs with his first major league hit in the seventh inning in Milwaukee.

Ivan Calderon hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning, and Greg Hibbard pitched a seven-hitter to improve his record to 9-5.

Loser Mark Knudson (8-5) retired 18 of the first 19 batters he faced but fell apart in the seventh.

Minnesota 6, Seattle 2--Brian Harper extended his hitting streak to 24 games with a two-run home run in the sixth inning at Seattle, but it took four unearned runs in the 13th inning for the Twins to win.

Harper, who also singled in the ninth, has the longest streak in the majors this season.

Randy Bush hit a three-run homer in the 13th inning, but he would not have batted except for an error by Mariner shortstop Jeff Schaefer.

Baltimore 14, Kansas City 1--Cal Ripken hit two home runs and drove in four runs at Baltimore to lead the Orioles’ rout in a game that was interrupted by a bench-clearing brawl.

With the Orioles leading, 11-1, Royal reliever Steve Crawford hit Brady Anderson in the back with a pitch. Anderson charged the mound and Kansas City catcher Mike Macfarlane tackledhim.

Both benches emptied. No punches were thrown, but several players were thrown to the ground and Anderson was ejected.