Orioles Win With Ripken as Third Baseman

The luck of the Iron Man lives.

It started back in May when Oriole Manager Davey Johnson said he was considering moving Cal Ripken to third base. Ripken responded on May 28, the night he was expected to be shifted from shortstop, with three home runs and eight runs batted in.

The move finally came Monday, ending a streak of 2,216 consecutive games at shortstop for Ripken.

This time his teammates responded with two homers in the ninth inning, turning a 6-3 deficit into an 8-6 victory in Baltimore, which had been waiting since July 6 to celebrate an Oriole win.

Ripken led off the ninth inning with a routine ground ball that rolled through the legs of Blue Jay shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

Rafael Palmeiro slapped a single to right field and Bobby Bonilla hit the first pitch thrown to him by Blue Jay closer Mike Timlin and hit it into the right-field bleachers to tie the game.

One out and a Luis Polonia single later, Chris Hoiles homered and the Orioles had ended a five-game losing streak.

Ripken went 0 for 4, reaching twice on errors. The Blue Jays could not resist testing him in the field and wasted no time. The first two Toronto batters tried to bunt. Leadoff man Otis Nixon was so intent on putting one down the third base line that he bunted foul with two strikes--a strikeout.

In the third inning, Ripken dived to his right to catch a drive by Charlie O’Brien and, from one knee, threw him out at first base, Palmeiro scooping up the low throw.

Ripken handled three other grounders without any difficulty, starting a double play in the eighth.

“It was nerve-racking,” Ripken said. “It’s an intense position, because you have to think of everything before it happens.”

Johnson moved Ripken from shortstop to third base in an effort to look at backup shortstop Manny Alexander.

“I’m not a genius. I’m probably the most hated person in Baltimore,” he said.

Boston 8, New York 6--Reggie Jefferson homered in the third inning to spark the Red Sox, who extended their winning streak to six games, at Boston.

Tim Wakefield (6-9) won despite giving up six runs on 13 hits in five innings, helping snap New York’s four-game winning streak.

Jefferson doubled in the second inning and, with his 12th homer of the season, improved his batting average to .375.

Minnesota 16, Chicago 5--Rich Becker homered and drove in four runs, and Chuck Knoblauch scored four times as the Twins rolled at Minneapolis.

Scott Aldred (4-7) won for the fourth time since the Twins claimed him on waivers from Detroit on May 28. He gave up five runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Kirk McCaskill (5-5) gave up seven runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Kansas City 6, Cleveland 3--Michael Tucker and Johnny Damon hit consecutive triples in the first inning as the Royals snapped a three-game losing streak at Kansas City.

David Howard and Mike Macfarlane homered for the last-place Royals.

Mike Magnante (2-2) got the win in relief of Tim Pugh, giving up one run and two hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Seattle 5, Oakland 1--Bob Wolcott (6-7) needed only 80 pitches to finish a five-hitter, and Paul Sorrento and Jay Buhner homered as the Mariners won at Oakland.

Wolcott struck out six in his first complete game.

Sorrento tied it, 1-1, in the fifth inning with his 17th home run, then hit an RBI double in the seventh for a 2-1 lead. Buhner hit a three-run homer in the ninth, his 24th.

Detroit 10, Milwaukee 9--Melvin Nieves homered from both sides of the plate to lead the Tigers at Milwaukee.

The Tigers began a 13-game trip by hitting solo homers in each of the first five innings. They built a 9-3 lead before holding off Brewer bats to snap a four-game losing skid. Brad Ausmus, Chad Curtis and Tony Clark also homered for Detroit.