Belle Hits Two Homers to Lead Indians to Win

Albert Belle homered twice Thursday to become Cleveland’s career leader and Charles Nagy won his 12th game as the Indians sent the Baltimore Orioles to their fourth consecutive loss, 10-7, at Baltimore.

Belle also had a two-run single and finished with five RBIs. It was his fourth two-homer game of the season and 23rd of his career.

Belle has 34 home runs this season and 228 with Cleveland, two more than Earl Averill, who played for the Indians from 1929 to 1939.

Nagy (12-3) gave up four runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings for his first victory in seven starts since June 15.

Roberto Alomar had four hits, including two homers. Brady Anderson hit his 32nd home run for the Orioles, who have lost 12 of 16 and dropped to .500 for the first time since May 8.

Kansas City 7, New York 0--Rookie left-hander Jose Rosado got his first major league victory, leading the Royals over the Yankees at New York.

Rosado (1-1), making his fourth start, gave up six hits in 7 2/3 innings, struck out two and walked two.

Mike Sweeney, Michael Tucker and Damon Howard, the bottom three hitters in the Royal order, drove in two runs each.

Toronto 4, Oakland 3--Mark McGwire hit his major league-leading 37th home run into the fifth deck at SkyDome, but Joe Carter hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to rally the Blue Jays.

McGwire became the second hitter to reach the upper level in Toronto. His 488-foot drive to left field landed about four rows above the spot where former Athletic teammate Jose Canseco hit a ball in the 1989 AL playoffs.

Rookie Jay Witasick (0-1) struck out Otis Nixon to start the ninth inning, walked Domingo Cedeno and struck out Jacob Brumfield before Carter homered.

Texas 4, Chicago 3--Darryl Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning to lift the Rangers past the White Sox at Chicago.

Warren Newson opened the 12th with a single off Brian Keyser (1-2), took second on Robert Machado’s passed ball and third on Kevin Elster’s sacrifice. Hamilton followed with a fly to deep center, scoring Newson easily.

Minnesota 16, Boston 6--Scott Stahoviak hit a two-run homer and had an RBI-single during a seven-run fourth inning that carried the Twins past the Red Sox at Minneapolis.

The Twins set a team record with eight doubles, including two each by Paul Molitor and Marty Cordova, in winning their fourth consecutive game.

Detroit 7, Seattle 4--Brad Ausmus hit a bases-loaded double with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Tigers a victory at Seattle, their first in 62 games this season when trailing after eight innings.

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THE BIG PUSH C1

Oakland’s Mark McGwire, who hit his 37th home run Thursday, is picking up a pace that could allow him to challenge Roger Maris’ record of 61. In his record 1961 season, Maris had 40 home runs at the end of July, and McGwire is quickly approaching that with his current power surge. Some McGwire numbers:

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Number of Games HRs Season (79 games) 37 Last 40 games 21 Last 30 games 16 Last 20 games 11 Last 10 games 6 Last 5 games 3

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