AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Homering Indians Close In on White Sox

Albert Belle was shut out Saturday. After four consecutive days of hitting a home run, he was kept in the park by Chicago pitchers.

He did, however, drive in four runs in the Indians’ 11-2 victory in Cleveland in which Paul Sorrento homered for the fifth time in five games.

It has been that way lately for the Indians, who had scored 25 runs in the first three games of this four-game series with Chicago--two of which the Indians have won--and have moved within one game of the White Sox in the AL Central.

“We’re just having fun playing,” Indian hitting coach Charlie Manuel said. “Every time somebody hits the ball hard, somebody else wants to duplicate it or do it better. At the bottom of our lineup, we’ve got power that most lineups don’t have. I don’t think they’ve touched the surface of their ability yet.”

Eight Cleveland hitters have already reached double figures in home runs. As a team, the Indians are three away from matching last year’s total of 141 homers.

Belle has remained in Cleveland’s lineup while he appeals his 10-day suspension for using a corked bat in Chicago last weekend. The appeal will be heard Friday.

He had a two-run single, a run-scoring single and drove in another run when he was hit by a pitch.

Jason Grimsley (2-1) came within one out of pitching his first shutout, leaving after giving up run-scoring singles to Joey Cora and Norberto Martin in the ninth inning. Grimsley walked Chicago’s Frank Thomas four times.

Boston 6-3, Seattle 5-6--Ken Griffey Jr. led off the 11th inning with his 36th homer and the Mariners won at Boston for a split of a doubleheader.

The Red Sox won the opener when Joe Hesketh gave Boston a rare victory by a starting pitcher.

The four-game series was moved from Seattle to Fenway Park after ceiling panels fell at the Kingdome earlier in the week.

Griffey, tied with Matt Williams for the major-league homer lead, connected against Jose Melendez (0-1) for an opposite-field drive into the screen in left field.

The Mariners added two more runs in the 11th on an RBI single by Reggie Jefferson and a squeeze bunt by Chris Howard.

In the opener, the victory by Hesketh (6-5) was only the 11th by a Boston starter in the last 51 games.

Minnesota 5, Milwaukee 1--Pedro Munoz homered and had an RBI single and Dave Stevens pitched one-hit ball over 5 1/3 innings of relief as the Twins won at Milwaukee.

Stevens (3-2) started the fourth inning in relief of Pat Mahomes and finished with three strikeouts and two walks. Mark Guthrie got the final two outs.

“I just tried to throw it over the plate and let them hit it,” Stevens said.

Munoz hit his ninth home run leading off the eighth inning against reliever Mike Ignasiak.

Kansas City 4, Detroit 1--David Cone pitched two-hit ball over eight innings and struck out a season-high 12 as the Royals won at Detroit to end a three-game losing streak.

Cone (14-4), who won his fourth consecutive decision, gave up a leadoff single to Tony Phillips and walked Lou Whitaker, then retired 16 in a row before Phillips drew a one-out walk in the sixth inning.

Phillips moved to third on a single by Whitaker and scored Detroit’s only run when Travis Fryman grounded into a fielder’s choice.

Toronto 9, Texas 1--Randy Knorr homered twice and drove in four runs in a victory at Toronto, the Blue Jays’ seventh in a row.

Knorr had a two-run single during a six-run first inning. He added two solo home runs in his first multi-homer game in the majors.

Oakland 6, Baltimore 3--Todd Van Poppel pitched seven strong innings and Ruben Sierra and Scott Brosius homered, leading the Athletics to a victory at Oakland.

Van Poppel (6-9) gave up one run and three hits for his first victory since beating the Orioles in Baltimore on July 7.