BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Indian Fans Gather for a Last Weekend

How did the opening game of the final baseball weekend at Cleveland go? The Indians lost, but a sellout crowd of 72,454 showed up for it.

Bo Jackson homered, doubled and singled and Alex Fernandez pitched seven scoreless innings for his 18th victory Friday night as the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-2.

The Indians, who will move to a new ballpark next April, went over two million in attendance for the first time since 1949. It didn’t help against the White Sox, who rested Frank Thomas and Lance Johnson with the American League West title already secured.

Carlos Baerga joined some lofty company--his second season with a .300 average, 200 hits, 20 homers and 100 runs batted in. Baerga and Rogers Hornsby are the only second basemen to reach those numbers in a season. Hornsby did it five times in the 1920s.

Texas 2, Kansas City 0--At Arlington, Juan Gonzalez hit his career-best 46th home run to take another step toward his second consecutive major league home run title. The Rangers clinched second place in the AL West, their best finish since 1986 when they also ended the year in second.

Seattle 8, Minnesota 2--Randy Johnson finished strong after laboring through the first five innings at Minneapolis, winning his eighth consecutive game and tying a Seattle record with his 19th victory. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 45th homer and doubled twice and Mariners (81-79) clinched a non-losing record for only the second time in their 16-year history.

New York 9, Detroit 6--Randy Velarde singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning at New York.

Milwaukee 8, Boston 4--Alex Diaz, who had gone 57 at-bats without driving in a run, singled in the go-ahead run, his first RBI of the season.

The Red Sox announced that pitcher Roger Clemens, whose season ended Sept. 21 because of elbow tenderness, will not need surgery.

Baltimore 7, Toronto 2--Fernando Valenzuela cooled off the Blue Jays, giving up two runs in 6 2/3 innings at Baltimore. Valenzuela (8-10) was 1-3 with a 8.94 earned-run average in his previous 12 starts.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Houston 2, Cincinnati 0--Greg Swindell’s last start in a disappointing season made the Astros feel a little better about next year. Swindell pitched an eight-hitter at Cincinnati for his first shutout to clinch third place in the National League West for Houston.

Swindell (12-13) finished with a 4.16 earned-run average and one complete game in 30 starts.

New York 4, Florida 1--The Mets celebrated the fact that they won their season-high fourth in a row when David Telgheder pitched eight scoreless innings. The loss ensured that Florida will finish with a poorer record than the Colorado Rockies.

Montreal 6, Pittsburgh 3--Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker hit solo home runs during a three-run sixth inning at Montreal.

Philadelphia 4, St. Louis 2--Curt Schilling, tuning up for his start in Game 2 of the playoffs next week, pitched six effective innings at St. Louis. Schilling (16-7) gave up two runs and four hits. His next start will be Thursday at Philadelphia against either Atlanta or San Francisco.

Chicago 8, San Diego 5--The Padres lost their 100th game on Karl Rhodes’ two-run homer in the seventh inning at San Diego. The Padres, who had not lost 100 games since 1974, joined the Mets, who have dropped 103, as the only teams to lose 100 this season.