Indians Have Flashback Victory

The words should send a shiver through the rest of the American League: The Cleveland Indians are playing the way they did in 1995.

“That was a typical Indians win of last year,” reliever Jim Poole said after the Indians defeated the Red Sox, 14-2, Saturday at Boston. “We get a couple here, a couple there. And then bam, we just dump on them.”

Albert Belle homered and drove in four runs, Jim Thome had a home run and a career-high four runs batted in and Omar Vizquel homered and scored three times for Cleveland. The loss dropped the Red Sox to 2-8, their worst start since they began the 1945 season the same way.

Boston made four errors to give up five unearned runs and boost its league-leading error total to 17.

Chicago 6, Oakland 5--Tony Phillips’ run-scoring single in the 12th inning gave the White Sox a victory at Chicago.

“I’m just looking for a pitch to hit,” said Phillips, who had struck out three times, grounded out, walked and sacrificed before his game-winning hit. “That was the only good swing I had all day.”

Darren Lewis opened the inning with a walk off reliever Don Wengert and was sacrificed to second by Ozzie Guillen before Phillips singled. Matt Karchner picked up the win with one inning of relief.

Baltimore 7, Minnesota 6--Brady Anderson hit a solo home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, capping a rally from a five-run deficit as the Orioles won their seventh in a row at home.

“I don’t know how to explain it, other than we’re a good team,” first baseman Rafael Palmeiro said. “The way things are going this year, you start to get the feeling that we can win every game. That’s not going to happen, but we know as long as we can stay close, we have a chance.”

Pat Mahomes got one out in the ninth before Anderson drove a 1-1 pitch into the right-field bleachers. Anderson, who also doubled and had a sacrifice fly, hit his third home run of the season.

Seattle 14, Toronto 3--Ken Griffey was the only starter who didn’t reach base as the Mariners trounced the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Dan Wilson hit a three-run homer that capped a six-run first inning and Alex Rodriguez doubled twice and drove in a career-high four runs.

Chris Bosio, activated from the disabled list before the game, won for the first time since Sept. 12. Coming off his seventh knee surgery, he gave up three runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and two walks.

Texas 10, New York 6--Dwight Gooden struggled in his second consecutive start for the Yankees, and Juan Gonzalez hit a three-run double that sparked the Rangers at New York.

Gooden gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings in his first Yankee Stadium appearance.

Kansas City 3, Milwaukee 2--Michael Tucker’s three-run homer--the only hit off knuckleballer Steve Sparks in eight innings--gave the Royals a comeback victory at Milwaukee.