Blue Jays Call Them All-Stars

Ed Sprague and Juan Guzman, two All-Star hopefuls who didn’t make it, were the difference for the Toronto Blue Jays against Baltimore on Wednesday night.

Sprague’s grand slam broke open a 1-1 game in the fifth inning, and Guzman lowered his American League-leading earned-run average to 3.25 by giving up one run in seven innings as the Blue Jays defeated the Orioles, 5-2, at Toronto.

“I was a little bit disappointed at not being selected, but that passed by really quickly,” said Sprague, who has 23 homers and 60 RBIs. “Then I got excited about getting to spend three days at home with my wife and my newborn son.”

Sprague sat out two games 10 days ago when his wife Kristen gave birth to their second child.

And even though he says he has been struggling with his timing since then, Sprague found a groove in the fifth inning.

Domingo Cedeno and Jacob Brumfield hit two-out singles, and Joe Carter drew a walk off Rick Krivda (2-4), loading the bases.

“When Krivda fell behind 2-0, he had to come out with a fastball,” Sprague said. “I felt he would try to go away, so I cheated over the outer half of the plate and he got it a little bit up.”

Wade Boggs of the New York Yankees was voted in at third base and all-star Manager Mike Hargrove selected Travis Fryman as the only Detroit player on the team. That left Sprague out of the picture at third.

Guzman (7-6) pitched like an all-star, scattering six hits while striking out six and walking two.

Cleveland 6, Kansas City 4--With the Indians holding a slim lead in the ninth at Cleveland, Hargrove turned to Paul Shuey, not Jose Mesa, to save it.

Mesa, who converted a major league-record 46 of 48 save chances last season, has blown four of his last eight opportunities. After giving up eight earned runs all of last season, Mesa has given up nine in his last five outings.

Hargrove explained beforehand that he would probably use Shuey in a save situation. Mesa blew his latest save chance Tuesday night against the Royals.

Of Mesa, Hargrove said, “He’s just been put on hold for a while until he gets his feet back under him.”

Julian Tavarez (3-5) gave up four runs on nine hits in five innings, but still got his first victory as a starter since 1993. Greg Swindell took over for Tavarez in the sixth and pitched three hitless innings.

Albert Belle hit his 27th home run and second in three games after going 16 games without one. Jim Thome and Sandy Alomar had two-run doubles.

The crowd of 42,470 was the largest regular-season crowd at Jacobs Field since it opened in 1994.

Seattle 4, Oakland 3--Edgar Martinez doubled home Alex Rodriguez from first base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Mariners the victory at Seattle.

“Any time you give Edgar a chance to win the game, you’ve got a 50-50 chance of winning,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez reached on an infield single after Carlos Reyes (4-10) got pinch-hitter Dan Wilson and Joey Cora to fly out. Martinez followed with his major league-leading 41st double, to right field on a 3-2 pitch. It was his second double of the game.

Detroit 8, Milwaukee 5--Curtis Pride had three hits, including an RBI triple in a four-run second inning at Detroit, as the Tigers ended a five-game losing streak.

Cecil Fielder had his second career stolen base for the Tigers, who finally beat the Brewers after being limited to one run in their previous two games, a span of 20 innings.

Minnesota 6, Chicago 5--Brad Radke, a loser in 10 of his previous 11 decisions, ended a five-game losing streak and Rich Becker went four for five for the Twins at Chicago.

Radke (5-10) gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks in seven-plus innings.

The Twins took a 5-0 lead as Luis Andujar (0-1), who was recalled from triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, gave up five runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings.