Shutout Is Worth Wait to Helling

Rick Helling pitched a four-hitter for his first shutout in four years and Mark McLemore had three hits and two runs batted in as Texas beat Toronto, 5-0, Friday night at Toronto.

Helling (1-0) limited Toronto to four singles, walked two and struck out two. It was the first complete game shutout in the American League this season and the second of Helling’s career.

The 27-year-old right-hander pitched his other shutout against Minnesota on May 6, 1994.

In three appearances against the Blue Jays, Helling is 2-0 with a 1.78 earned-run average.

Helling got out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the sixth by getting Mike Stanley to fly out to the warning track in left.

“When I made the pitch, I thought I got it in on him enough, jammed him just enough to where it wasn’t going to be a problem,” Helling said. “I saw Rusty [Greer] keep going back and back and back, and next thing you know, he’s standing at the wall. Lucky enough, there was just enough room for him to make the catch. I was definitely holding my breath right there, it was definitely a big out.”

Chicago 10, Tampa Bay 4--Frank Thomas drove in four runs and Robin Ventura had four hits and three RBIs at St. Petersburg, Fla.

The White Sox rebounded from Thursday night’s 20-4 loss to Texas with 15 hits against the Devil Rays, who were coming off two straight victories over Detroit.

James Baldwin (1-0) pitched six innings for the win. He gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked one. Tampa Bay’s only run came on Bubba Trammell’s homer in the second.

Ruben Sierra had a two-run triple in the fifth for the White Sox, who also scored four times in the eighth when Thomas doubled off Ramon Tatis with the bases loaded and Ventura followed with a two-run single.

The White Sox scored twice in the first off Rick Gorecki, taken from the Dodgers in the expansion draft. They loaded the bases before Albert Belle hit a sacrifice fly, and the first of Ventura’s four singles scored Mike Cameron, who had walked.

Kansas City 9, Minnesota 5--Dean Palmer and the Kansas City Royals ruined another home opener.

Palmer was four for five with a home run and two RBIs as the Royals rallied from a 4-0 deficit against Brad Radke at Minneapolis.

The Royals, who opened the season with a win at Baltimore, scored four times in the fifth off Radke, who was 20-10 in 1997 and finished third behind Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson in the AL Cy Young voting.

The Twins, whose future in Minnesota is uncertain beyond this season because of their unhappiness with the Metrodome, drew 43,848, the largest crowd for an opener since 51,617 turned out in 1993.

Baltimore 10, Detroit 2--B.J. Surhoff hit a three-run homer and Doug Drabek earned his 150th victory at Baltimore.

Cal Ripken had three singles, scored three times and drove in a run for the Orioles, who led, 6-0, after three innings. Baltimore scored its first eight runs with two out.

Drabek, who signed with Baltimore as a free agent in December after spending last season with the Chicago White Sox, gave up two runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. The 35-year-old right-hander improved his record over 13 seasons to 150-123.

New York at Oakland--The Yankees and Athletics, both winless starting their weekend series, will have to wait at least one more day to determine which of them gets their first win of 1998. Friday night’s game was rained out. No makeup game was announced.