Clemens Hot, Then Injured in the Cold

Roger Clemens was in charge with a lead, a 90-mph fastball, seven strikeouts and a 2-and-2 count on Frank Thomas in a gem of a game nobody was watching in the cold of Chicago Wednesday.

Then he felt the pain in his right groin.

Clemens signaled for Manager Cito Gaston and trainer Tommy Craig, and his day was over after allowing only two hits in 5 2/3 innings of Toronto’s 5-0 victory over the White Sox.

“I started cramping and it got to a point where I felt it was going to hinder the way I throw, so I called them out,” Clemens (2-0) said. “I tried to buy a little time to see if the pain would go away. It didn’t and they got me out of there.”

Chalk it up to a wind-whipped day that began with the dirt frozen on the Comiskey Park infield and a 34-degree temperature and a sub-freezing chill factor at game time. It ended with the shivering remnants of a paid crowd of 746, the White Sox’s lowest in 27 years.

“There were not very many. I can’t blame them. I don’t think I would come out on a day like this,” said Toronto’s Ed Sprague, who had a two-run double to cap a four-run third inning.

Clemens said he didn’t know if he would miss his next start, scheduled for Monday at Toronto against Kansas City.

“I’m not going to guesstimate on that,” Clemens said. “It just tells me I got to do a little work. I tried to do as much stretching as I could but it was extremely cold. There were two or three times where my wrist almost went numb when I was holding the baseball.”

Oakland 4, Boston 3--Using a borrowed glove and fueled by peanuts he munched while sitting on a frozen airport runway, Aaron Small arrived just in time to pitch the 10th inning and become the beneficiary of Scott Brosius’ bases-loaded walk that produced the winning run.

Geronimo Berroa hit his fourth home run for Oakland.

Small (1-0) had been promoted from Edmonton of the Pacific Coast League earlier in the day, and had to make his way from Colorado Springs.

With a fog-delayed flight and a missed connection, he got to Oakland at the end of the fifth inning.

With one out in the 10th, Ernie Young walked and Scott Spiezio doubled over the head of first baseman Mo Vaughn. George Williams walked to load the bases before Ricky Trlicek (2-2) got pinch-hitter Matt Stairs on a short fly, but lost Brosius and the game on a 3-and-1 pitch.

Detroit 10, Minnesota 5--Bobby Higginson hit his first grand slam before 6,477, the smallest crowd at Tiger Stadium in eight years.

Detroit trailed, 3-0 and 4-2, then went ahead, 6-4, in the seventh inning on RBI singles by Jody Reed and Bubba Trammell.

Gregg Olson walked the bases loaded in the eighth. He was relieved by left-hander Eddie Guardado, who got switch-hitting Tony Clark on a pop foul, but then gave up Higganson’s grand slam.

Baltimore 4, Kansas City 2--Jeffrey Hammonds hit a two-run double with two out in the 11th inning on a snowy evening in Kansas City.

Snow ranging from light to heavy fell throughout the game as temperatures dropped into the mid-30s and the wind chill was in the 20s.

In the 11th, Cal Ripken singled with two out off Brian Bevil (0-1), Kansas City’s fourth pitcher. B.J. Surhoff then walked before Hammonds doubled.

Texas at Milwaukee, ppd--Temperatures that dropped below the freezing mark caused the game at Milwaukee to be postponed. No makeup date was set.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Mark Whiten New York 4 for 4, 2 runs, 1 RBI Win Jay Buhner Seattle 2 for 5, HR, 3 RBIs Win Joe Carter Toronto 3 for 4, 2 RBIs Win

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PITCHING

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Team’s Player Team Performance Result Wilson Alvarez Chicago 7 innings, 12 strikeouts Loss Scott Wolcott Seattle 6 2/3 innings 4 hits, 1 run Win Roger Clemens Toronto 5 2/3 innings, 2 hits, 7 strikeouts Win

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