AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Ojeda Makes Return in Cleveland’s Defeat

After his long-awaited stint on the mound was finished, Bob Ojeda had some unfinished business to take care of at Baltimore.

Ojeda, making his first appearance since the boating accident that killed two of his Cleveland Indian teammates, gave up one of Cal Ripken’s two homers as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Indians, 8-6, Saturday night.

Ojeda suffered severe head injuries in the March 22 crash at spring training in Florida that killed Steve Olin and Tim Crews. He had surgery to re-attach his scalp, and also underwent an unrelated operation on his throwing shoulder in April.

But it wasn’t the physical ailments that held him back. It was the mental aspect.

He finally made it through the agony with help from the wives of his two late teammates.

“Both of them said, ‘Do it for me.’ If I didn’t, they were going to kick my butt,” Ojeda said. “I’ll call them tonight.”

Ojeda, activated off the 60-day disabled list earlier in the day, entered to a standing ovation during the fourth inning. He gave up one earned run and four hits in two innings.

“It’s definitely hard being activated, but they told me when I got here there would be a pretty good chance that I would be pitching tonight,” Ojeda said.

The left-hander entered the game with Cleveland trailing, 5-4. He gave up an unearned run in the fourth and Ripken’s 18th homer leading off the fifth.

Earlier, Ripken hit a three-run homer against Julian Tavarez (0-1) during the Orioles’ five-run third inning. Tavarez, making his major league debut, left after giving up six hits and three walks in three innings.

Minnesota 6, New York 5--Kirby Puckett’s two-out single in the ninth inning at Minneapolis lifted the Twins to their second consecutive final-inning victory.

On Friday, Gene Larkin’s run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth gave the Twins a 4-3 victory over the Yankees.

With one out in the ninth, Pat Meares hit a looper to left-center against Bobby Munoz (2-3) and stretched it into a double. After Chuck Knoblauch walked, Steve Howe relieved and retired pinch-hitter Lenny Webster on a groundout that advanced both runners.

Puckett hit a line drive to center on a 1-and-2 pitch from Steve Farr.

Boston 4, Detroit 1--John Valentin’s bases-loaded single broke a tie in the sixth inning, and Danny Darwin pitched a strong game to lead the Red Sox at Detroit.

Darwin (11-8) gave up four hits, struck out three and walked one in 7 1/3 innings. Jeff Russell, the fourth Boston pitcher, worked the ninth for his 31st save as the Red Sox sent the Tigers to their 16th loss in 23 games.

Andre Dawson and Mo Vaughn started the Boston sixth with walks, and after a sacrifice bunt by Ivan Calderon, Scott Cooper was intentionally walked to load the bases before Valentin grounded a single past shortstop Chris Gomez.

Kansas City 5, Oakland 2--Gary Gaetti and Brian McRae homered to lift Kevin Appier and the Royals at Kansas City.

Oakland starter Bob Welch left the game in the third inning when George Brett’s line drive struck him on the right wrist. He was taken to a hospital for precautionary X-rays, which were negative.

Kelly Downs (3-6) replaced Welch and gave up three runs and four hits while getting only two outs.

Appier (12-6) gave up four hits in 7 2/3 innings. He struck out eight.

Milwaukee 7, Toronto 1--Angel Miranda was impressive in his first major league victory, and Pat Listach supplied the offense as the Brewers ended a five-game losing streak at Milwaukee.

Miranda (1-2) struck out a career-high 10 in his eighth big league start, giving up five hits and walking three. The rookie, who pitched his first complete game, is the first left-handed starter to win for Milwaukee since Dan Plesac beat Cleveland on April 24, 1992.

Listach--who had three hits, two runs batted in, stole two bases and scored three runs--opened the game with a homer.

Seattle 2, Texas 1--Erik Hanson stopped the Rangers on three hits for seven innings at Arlington, Tex.

Roger Pavlik (6-6) lost despite pitching a three-hitter and striking out a career-high 13.

Hanson (9-8) struck out seven and walked three. Norm Charlton retired the first two batters in the ninth, then threw two wild pitches to Dean Palmer and was removed because of an unspecified injury.