Justice Is at Home in American League

It didn’t take David Justice long to adjust to American League pitching.

Justice, making his AL debut only eight days after being traded from Atlanta, hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh inning to give Cleveland a season-opening 9-7 win Wednesday night over the Oakland Athletics.

Justice, who also tripled and singled, had an RBI groundout in Cleveland’s four-run first inning and tripled as the Indians, despite a radically changed lineup, showed they still have plenty of power.

Jim Thome and newcomer Kevin Mitchell added solo homers for the Indians, who have only 11 players remaining from the team that won the 1995 AL pennant. The lineup has undergone a huge makeover since Cleveland won its second consecutive AL Central title while winning 99 games last season.

Mark McGwire drove in three runs for the Athletics, and had a two-run double with the bases loaded that tied the game, 6-6, in the fifth inning. But he grounded out with the tying runs on base and two outs in the seventh.

The A’s pulled within 8-7 in the eighth on Geronimo Berroa’s double, a groundout and a wild pitch, but Thome led off the ninth with a homer.

Ernie Young and Berroa had solo homers for the A’s. Jose Canseco, back in an Oakland uniform for the first time since 1992, went one for four with a walk.