Orosco Is No-Risk Insurance for Orioles

Scott Erickson was one out away from his league-leading seventh complete game when Baltimore Orioles Manager Ray Miller began the slow walk from the dugout to the mound.

“What? No way!” Erickson said.

“I already made the move. Give me the ball,” Miller replied, his hand extended.

After Miller walked back to the dugout amid a chorus of boos from the home crowd Saturday, Jesse Orosco retired Mo Vaughn on one pitch to cement the 2-1 victory at Baltimore, the Orioles’ third in a row over the Boston Red Sox.

“You don’t want to come out, but it was the best thing. We won the game,” Erickson said.

“Complete games are nice, but Mo Vaughn hits one out and you kick yourself in the head,” Miller said.

Joe Carter homered and Jeff Reboulet hit a sacrifice fly to help Baltimore put together its first three-game winning streak since June 1-3. The Orioles, who still trail Boston by 12 1/2 games in the wild-card race, today will vie for their first four-game sweep of the Red Sox since 1980.

“We’re still a long way out and have a long way to go,” Erickson conceded.

Boston may not have to worry about Baltimore yet, but its wild-card lead isn’t quite as comfortable as it was at the All-Star break. Each of the games of this series have been decided by one run.

“We haven’t really gotten our butts kicked, we just happened to come out short,” Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield said. “It’s a tough game to lose. It’s rare to see three ballgames decided by one run in this ballpark too, so hopefully we can get something rolling tomorrow.”

It was the sixth consecutive one-run game for the Orioles, who lost the first three of them to the New York Yankees before the All-Star break.

Erickson (9-7) struck out eight and walked one. The right-hander retired the first 13 batters before Troy O’Leary hit a soft liner to right that fell for a single.

Erickson lost the shutout when John Valentin led off the eighth with his 12th homer. The Red Sox then got a runner to second with one out before Erickson got two consecutive groundouts.

“I really thought he was done after eight,” Miller said. “I wasn’t going to let Scotty face Mo Vaughn with the game on the line.”

Orosco, who got the victory in the first two games of the series, earned his sixth save.

Wakefield (10-4) continually worked out of trouble in giving up two runs in 6 2/3 innings. The knuckleball pitcher gave up 11 hits, one walk and hit a batter.

“I worked out of some tough jams. I’m happy about that, but I’m not happy about the 11 hits on the board,” Wakefield said.

“It’s been three tough games,” Boston Manager Jimy Williams said. “We pitched good, we played good, we just can’t seem to get enough hits at the right times. Erickson pitched a real strong game.”

New York 2, Tampa Bay 0--The Yankees won their ninth consecutive game to match their longest winning streak of the season, and got strong pitching by David Cone at St. Petersburg, Fla. Cone (13-2) became the AL’s first 13-game winner, limiting the Devil Rays to three hits in eight innings.

He gave up a leadoff single to Randy Winn in the first, a one-out double to Kevin Stocker in the third and a leadoff double to Miguel Cairo in the eighth. He struck out eight and walked three.

Mariano Rivera gave up two hits in the ninth before retiring Dave Martinez and pinch-hitter Bobby Smith with the tying run on base for his 24th save.

It marks the first time since 1961 that the Yankees has had two winning streaks of at least nine games in the same season. The Yankees (64-20) won 109 games in 1961.

Cleveland 12, Minnesota 2--Brian Giles was four for five with four RBIs and his first homer in nearly two months, and Dwight Gooden outpitched All-Star Brad Radke at Cleveland.

Travis Fryman hit his 16th homer and second in two days as Central-leading Cleveland extended its lead over second-place Minnesota to 11 1/2 games.

Radke (9-7), the Twins’ only All-Star representative, gave up eight runs and 11 hits in five-plus innings, falling to 4-8 with a 6.69 ERA in his career against Cleveland.

Gooden (3-3) pitched seven innings, allowing one run and four hits, including a homer to David Ortiz.

Chicago 4, Kansas City 3--Albert Belle hit his fourth home run in three games since the All-Star break to lift the White Sox at Chicago.

Belle, who homered twice Friday night, drove his 22nd of the season over the wall in the center, a three-run shot, to erase a 2-0 deficit in the fourth.

James Baldwin (4-3) gave up seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts over seven innings to get the victory. Matt Karchner pitched the ninth for his 11th save, giving up Mike Sweeney’s RBI single.

Detroit 5, Toronto 2--Brian Moehler, dominant at home all season, did not give up a hit through six innings and Bobby Higginson homered twice at Detroit.

Moehler (8-6) gave up a run on three hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 7 2/3 innings. He is 8-0 at Tiger Stadium this year with a league-low 2.05 home ERA.

Higginson drove in three runs with three hits and scored three runs in his second multi-homer game of the season. He has 18 home runs this season.

Tony Clark and Damion Easley had RBI doubles off Chris Carpenter (5-4) as the Tigers took their third victory in a row over the Blue Jays and seventh in nine games.