BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Ripken Lifts Orioles to Victory

Cal Ripken Jr. homered for his sixth consecutive hit and drove in three runs as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Cleveland Indians, 7-1, Saturday at Cleveland.

Ripken, who will play in his 1,800th game today, had two singles and a home run in his first three at-bats, after getting hits in his last three at-bats Friday night.

Ripken homered twice and drove in seven runs in the two games. His hitting streak ended when he popped to short in the seventh inning.

He will play only two innings in the Orioles’ finale today, extending his streak of consecutive games to 1,735, before coming out so the club can take a look at rookie shortstop Manny Alexander.

“I can understand the reasoning, the need to get Manny some playing time,” Ripken said. “I do remember when I came up and people were playing in front of me, I wanted to get a chance to play. One side of me says I want to play and treat it like a regular game. The other side says I should let him play.”

Ripken will end the season 395 games short of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games-played record. Ripken could catch Gehrig during the 1995 season.

Boston 7, New York Yankees 5--Phil Plantier, pinch-hitting for Wade Boggs, hit a two-run homer and Scott Cooper added a solo shot as the Red Sox rallied at Boston.

New York, battling Cleveland and Detroit for fourth place in the American League East, scored all its runs in the third, taking a 5-1 lead.

But Boston, which will finish last for the first time since 1932, scored two in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Kansas City 7, Minnesota 6--Kevin Koslofski singled in Brian McRae with the winning run in the 11th inning at Kansas City.

McRae led off with a double and took third on a balk by Gary Wayne before scoring on Koslofski’s single to left-center.

George Brett singled and doubled, giving him 3,003 career hits. Brett, honored in pregame ceremonies for reaching the 3,000-hit mark Wednesday night, said he’ll sit out today’s season finale.

Seattle 7, Chicago 2--Randy Johnson won his first game since Aug. 31 and Ken Griffey’s two-run triple keyed a five-run second inning at Seattle.

Johnson (12-14) had struck out 45 batters in his previous three starts without winning.

The major league strikeout leader had better luck against the White Sox, pitching a four-hitter over seven innings and striking out eight.

Atlanta 1, San Diego 0--Charlie Leibrandt and Armando Reynoso combined on a four-hitter as the Braves beat the Padres at Atlanta in a game called in the bottom of the sixth after a 1-hour, 21-minute rain delay.

Leibrandt (15-7) pitched five scoreless innings to extend his shutout streak to 23 before leaving for a pinch-hitter in the fifth. Reynoso, who yielded one hit, got his first big league save as Atlanta increased its major league-leading shutout total to 24.

Cincinnati 6, San Francisco 1--Dave Martinez and Willie Greene homered at Cincinnati for the Reds, who will finish with their second 90-victory season in three seasons.

Cincinnati, which won 91 games in 1990 en route to winning the World Series title, will finish second to the Atlanta Braves in the National League West this season.

New York Mets 2, Pittsburgh 1--Dwight Gooden pitched a four-hitter at New York for his second complete game in three starts and also assured the Mets of not finishing last in the NL East.

Gooden (10-13) finished with the first losing season in his nine-year career. He struck out three and walked one.

Philadelphia 3, St. Louis 2--Ruben Amaro homered in the eighth inning and Jim Lindeman singled to break a ninth-inning tie as the Phillies rallied at St. Louis.

Montreal 3, Chicago 1--Sean Berry hit his first major league home run, and Ivan Calderon doubled in one run and scored another as the Expos won at Chicago.