Belle’s Streak Reaches 20 in Indians’ 8-5 Victory

The Texas Rangers left town thinking what could have been Sunday, while Albert Belle and the Cleveland Indians kept winning.

Belle extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a two-run single, helping Charles Nagy to an 8-5 victory at Cleveland as the Indians won for the 26th time in 34 games.

Belle’s streak is the longest of his career and best in the majors this season. It is the longest by an Indian since Julio Franco’s 22 in a row in 1988.

“Maybe not should have, but we could have won all three games,” Texas Manager Johnny Oates said after the Rangers went 1-2 in the series. “We certainly didn’t play like we had been. I’d like to think that it wasn’t because we played Cleveland.”

Nagy (7-1) gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings. He struck out six in his fourth consecutive victory.

Toronto 3, Kansas City 2--Ed Sprague hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs, and Joe Carter doubled and tripled at Kansas City to help the Blue Jays’ Erik Hanson win his fifth game of the season.

With Kansas City leading, 2-1, in the seventh inning, Carter led off with a double and Sprague followed with his 12th homer.

Hanson gave up both runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, struck out four and walked four.

Baltimore 8, Seattle 7--Roberto Alomar hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to help the Orioles overcome four home runs by the Mariners to win at Baltimore.

Rafael Palmeiro and Mark Smith also homered for the Orioles. Jay Buhner hit two of the Mariners’ four home runs off Mike Mussina, who gave up seven runs along with a career-high 13 hits in six innings.

Buhner, who had two solo homers and a run-scoring single, has homered in four consecutive games.

Boston 12, Oakland 2--Mo Vaughn and Jose Canseco hit consecutive home runs to back Aaron Sele’s pitching and lead the Red Sox at Boston.

Vaughn, who also singled in a run in the fourth inning, has four home runs in his last four games and eight in his last 11.

Sele gave up one run on five hits and two walks, striking out five in seven innings for his longest outing of the season.

Milwaukee 4, Minnesota 2--Steve Sparks stymied the Twins with his knuckleball for 7 2/3 innings, giving the Brewers the victory at Minneapolis.

“I kept telling myself to trust in my pitch and that was the mode I was in the whole game,” Sparks said. “For the most part, I stayed ahead of the hitters.”

Sparks gave up eight hits before being relieved by Marshall Boze with two outs in the eighth. Mike Fetters pitched the ninth inning for his fifth save.

Chicago 14, Detroit 3--Robin Ventura and Darren Lewis hit grand slams as the White Sox became only the fourth team to hit three slams in two games, beating the Tigers at Detroit.

Ventura hit his eighth career grand slam in a five-run third and Lewis hit his first grand slam to cap a six-run ninth.

Ray Durham hit a grand slam Saturday. The last team to hit three grand slams in two games was Milwaukee in 1980.