AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians Continue Winning Ways

It was an at-bat worthy of a hitter far more experienced than Manny Ramirez.

“A lot of things went right in that at-bat,” Manager Mike Hargrove said Monday night after Ramirez homered on a full count leading off the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Cleveland Indians a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Cleveland.

The 23-year-old Ramirez, runner-up to Kansas City’s Bob Hamelin for rookie of the year in 1994, has looked like a hitter mature beyond his years this season. He’s hitting .344, and his 14 homers rank second on the Indians.

Facing Ken Ryan, who struck him out two innings earlier, Ramirez took some pitches for balls and fouled off some others until the count ran full.

He then drilled a fastball into the stands in right-center.

“He shortened his swing and stayed in on the plate and used his hands better,” Hargrove said. “You could see him getting closer and closer. Everybody in the ballpark knew Ryan didn’t want to walk him, with [Paul] Sorrento up next. That’s a challenge.”

It marked the 12th time this year the Indians won a game in their last at-bat. Winners of 18 of 22 games, they improved baseball’s best record to 35-13, including 20-6 at Jacobs Field.

Albert Belle and Jim Thome also homered for Cleveland, which is 5-0 in extra innings.

The Red Sox gave knuckleballer Tim Wakefield a 3-0 lead, but he couldn’t hold it. Wakefield lasted five innings--his shortest outing in six starts for Boston--giving up three runs and eight hits.

Baltimore 5, New York 4--Cal Ripken broke out of a two-for-24 slump with four hits and two RBIs at Baltimore.

Ripken had two doubles, a single and a triple and barely missed becoming the first Oriole to hit for the cycle twice in his career.

Needing a homer in the seventh inning, Ripken lashed a line drive to right-center that hit the wall on one hop for a double.

Right-hander Scott Klingenbeck (2-1) allowed three runs on five hits in six innings for the victory.

Doug Jones pitched the ninth for his eighth save.

Texas 6, Detroit 4--Kevin Gross ended a five-start winless streak with his first victory since May 17.

Gross (2-6) benefited from the Rangers’ three-run rally in the sixth inning at Detroit and survived home runs by Chad Curtis, Cecil Fielder and Bobby Higginson, which put the Tigers up, 4-2, after four innings.

Gross went 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on five hits, and left after the Rangers used three consecutive two-out singles to take a 5-4 lead in the sixth.

Tigers starter Pat Ahearne (0-2) left the game with a 4-3 lead in the sixth after giving up a run-scoring single to Benji Gil. Joe Boever then gave up run-scoring singles to Otis Nixon and Mark McLemore to put Texas ahead.

Chicago 8, Seattle 6--Frank Thomas’ two-run homer in the eighth inning keyed a three-run eighth inning at Chicago.

With the score tied, 5-5, Tim Raines opened the eighth with a walk off loser Dave Fleming (1-5). Bill Risley relieved Fleming, and Thomas hit a 1-0 pitch over the center-field fence for his 14th home run.

Mike Devereaux hit his fourth home run later in the inning to pad the lead to 8-5.

Kirk McCaskill (3-2) pitched one inning for the victory, and Roberto Hernandez got the last three outs for his 11th save.

Minnesota 8, Oakland 5--Pinch-hitter Chip Hale’s three-run double with two outs in the 10th inning was the difference at Oakland.

Jim Corsi (2-2) retired the first two batters he faced in the 10th before Matt Merullo singled, his fourth hit of the game. Scott Leius and Scott Stahoviak both walked to load the bases before Hale, hitting for Pat Meares, doubled to clear the bases.

Rick Aguilera (1-1), who blew a save chance in the ninth, pitched the last 2 1/3 innings to pick up the victory.