AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians’ Mesa Paying Off in a Major Way

Of all the moves made by the Cleveland Indians--acquiring Orel Hershiser, Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield, developing Albert Belle, Manny Ramires and Jim Thome--the move that has met with the most success has been one made out of desperation.

As spring training neared its end, the Indians lacked only a closer--a relief pitcher who could finish off a game--to complete their puzzle.

They settled on Jose Mesa, who had two saves in six lifetime chances.

On Friday, he got his 36th in as many tries this season, matching a 1992 record set by Dennis Eckersley, closing out the Milwaukee Brewers in a 7-5 victory at Cleveland.

The record is for consecutive saves without a blown opportunity in one season. San Francisco’s Rod Beck holds the record of converting 41 opportunities in a row, but did so over three seasons.

Like Eckersley, Mesa was a starter, for Baltimore, then Cleveland, before moving to the bullpen. His status, though, was part-time.

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth,” said Mesa, who is 1-0 with a 1.14 earned-run average. “Now I know what I’m going to do. I’m just going to come in and pitch the ninth, not the seventh or the eighth. When you are just getting ready for one inning, all you’ve got to do is go out and let it go.”

The Brewers’ B.J. Surhoff grounded a two-out single to center field before Mesa finished off the save by getting Dave Nilsson to pop out.

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Consecutive Saves, One Season

Jose Mesa of Cleveland has converted 36 of 36 save opportunities this season, tying the single-season record set by Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1992. The top streaks:

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Saves Pitcher Team Season 36 Jose Mesa Cleveland 1995 36 Dennis Eckersley Oakland 1992 28 Rod Beck San Francisco 1994 25 Tom Henke Toronto 1991 24 Rod Beck San Francisco 1993 24 Jeff Montgomery Kansas City 1993 23 Rob Dibble Cincinnati 1991 23 John Franco Cincinnati 1988

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Seattle 9, Boston 3--Mike Blowers hit his third grand slam of the month and added a three-run homer off Tim Wakefield in the knuckleballer’s worst outing of the season.

Blowers’ three grand slams in 15 days--he hit one off the Angels’ Mike Butcher on Aug. 3 and another off Minnesota’s Pat Mahomes on Monday--tied a major-league record for most grand slams in a month.

Wakefield (14-2), the ace of Boston’s staff, lost for the first time after 10 consecutive victories and went only three innings in his shortest stint of the season. He gave up seven runs on four hits and four walks. Only 35 of his 75 pitches were strikes.

It was only the second loss in 16 games for the AL East-leading Red Sox, but it also was Boston’s third loss in four games at the Kingdome this year.

Chicago 3, Texas 1--Tim Raines and Lance Johnson each had three hits, scored a run and drove in a run to lead the White Sox to a victory at home.

The loss was only the third in the last 10 games for the Rangers.

Wilson Alvarez (5-7) pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up one run on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Kansas City 10, Toronto 3--Wally Joyner had a grand slam and five RBIs and Greg Gagne had a homer and two RBIs as the Royals won at Toronto.

The Royals started the game with six hits in a row and batted around in the first inning to take a 5-0 lead. Gagne’s homer in the third and Joyner’s grand slam in the sixth--the fifth of his career--made it 10-0.

Tom Gordon (8-8) went eight innings, giving up three runs.

Detroit 3, Minnesota 1--Sean Bergman outdueled Jose Parra at Detroit to give the Tigers only their eighth victory in 34 games since the All-Star break.

Bergman (5-8) ended his two-game losing streak, giving up seven hits in seven innings.

Parra (1-1), a 22-year-old right-hander acquired by the Twins from the Dodgers in the Kevin Tapani trade, took his first big-league loss in his fourth start. He went 6 1/3 innings and scattered six hits.

Baltimore 8, Oakland 4--Rafael Palmeiro’s three-run homer highlighted a six-run second inning and Rick Krivda got his first major league victory as the Orioles won in Oakland.

Palmeiro hit his 26th homer and Bobby Bonilla rounded the bases on a bad-hop grounder off the shoulder of first baseman Scott Brosius in Baltimore’s big inning, which also included Manny Alexander’s RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Curtis Goodwin.