Gooden Earns First Victory With Indians

Dwight Gooden surprised himself, but not his manager.

Gooden won for the first time with Cleveland, and Jim Thome hit a three-run homer as the Indians defeated the Minnesota Twins, 3-2, Thursday night at Minneapolis.

Gooden (1-2), making only his third start since coming off the disabled list, gave up one run and six hits in six innings.

Gooden said he may be ahead of schedule after missing nearly two months because of tendinitis in his pitching arm. But Indian Manager Mike Hargrove had a little more confidence in his 33-year old right-hander.

“I think any time a pitcher the caliber of a Doc Gooden takes the mound, you expect the best,” Hargrove said. “Yeah, I expected him to do well and he did.”

Gooden lost his first two starts this season, both against the Toronto Blue Jays, as Cleveland scored a combined two runs.

He got a little more offensive support this time, and did his part by limiting the Twins to a second-inning homer by Marty Cordova.

“I always expect good things out of myself,” said Gooden, who walked one and struck out three. “You hope your hitters can get something going and you can keep them in the game.”

It was a much different result than the last time he pitched in Minnesota. Last Aug. 8, while with the New York Yankees, Gooden allowed seven hits and six runs in only two-thirds of an inning--matching the shortest outing of his 14-year career.

“Last year, when I came back from a hernia operation, I was trying to impress people to show that I was back,” Gooden said. “Last year kind of helped me this year, where when I was [on a rehabilitation assignment] I worked on things to help me on this level.”

Gooden got some defensive help in the fourth when center fielder Kenny Lofton threw out Matt Lawton at the plate. Lawton, who had doubled, was trying to score on Ron Coomer’s single.

Thome provided the Indians’ offense when he homered off Brad Radke (7-4) on a 3-0 pitch in the fourth. Omar Vizquel and David Justice singled before Thome hit his 14th homer of the season.

Minnesota added a run in the eighth on Otis Nixon’s home run off Paul Assenmacher. Mike Jackson pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 16 opportunities.

“We couldn’t get anything to go our way tonight,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said. “Brad certainly pitched well. He gave us the chance to win.”

New York 6, Tampa Bay 1--Hideki Irabu held the Devil Rays to one run in 7 1/3 innings and Bernie Williams was three for four with two RBIs at New York.

Irabu (5-1), who lowered his league-leading earned-run average to 1.45, had six strikeouts and four walks. Graeme Lloyd retired the final five batters in order to help the Yankees extend their winning streak to four games.

The Yankees, playing their first game without injured shortstop Derek Jeter (abdominal strain), improved their major league-best record to 41-13.

The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the second, with Darryl Strawberry hitting an RBI double and Joe Girardi pushing across another run with a double-play groundout. The Devil Rays made it 2-1 in the third on Quinton McCracken’s RBI groundout.

New York added two runs in the third on Williams’ bases-loaded single off Dennis Springer (2-9). Chuck Knoblauch had a sacrifice fly in the fourth and Paul O’Neill completed the scoring in the seventh with his sixth homer.

Boston 9, Baltimore 1--Bret Saberhagen allowed one run in seven innings and Darren Lewis drove in three runs as the Red Sox rebounded from their only shutout loss of the season with a victory at Boston.

Saberhagen (7-3) had ended Boston’s six-game slide and his own three-game losing streak in his previous outing, a 3-2 win over the New York Yankees last Saturday. In his longest outing of the season Thursday, he allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out three.

Lewis went three for five with an RBI single that put Boston ahead, 3-0, in the second and his third homer of the season, a two-run shot that made it 5-0 in the sixth.

Oakland 6, Texas 1--Rickey Henderson homered for the third time in as many games and Jimmy Haynes and Bill Taylor combined on a five-hitter at Oakland.

Haynes (4-2) struck out seven and walked five and with Taylor shut down a Texas offense that is leading the majors in runs and hits and produced a 16-10 victory over the A’s Wednesday night. This time the teams finished in two hours and 24 minutes, Oakland’s quickest game this year.

Haynes allowed one run on five hits in 7 1/3 innings and Taylor got five outs for his 10th save.

Rick Helling (7-3) failed in his third try for his eighth victory. He allowed four runs on eight hits in seven innings while striking out five and walking two.

Toronto 9, Detroit 6--Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado each hit two-run homers and Ed Sprague had a three-run double at Toronto as the Blue Jays handed the Tigers their fifth consecutive loss.

Sprague’s bases-clearing hit in the fifth gave Toronto a 7-2 lead, then they had to hold off a comeback sparked by Tony Clark’s two-run homer and Joe Randa’s two-run double that cut it to 7-6 in the seventh.

Woody Williams (7-2) won his fourth consecutive decision despite giving up six runs, five earned, on seven hits in six innings. He was relieved by Dan Plesac, Paul Quantrill and Randy Myers, who pitched the ninth for his 14th save.

Chicago 7, Kansas City 1--Jamie Navarro pitched a complete game eight-hitter and Jeff Abbott hit a three-run home run at Kansas City, Mo., to lead the White Sox to their 11th consecutive victory in Kauffman Stadium.

Navarro (5-6) snapped a personal three-game losing streak, walking two and striking out one. He benefited from inning ending double plays in the first, second, sixth and seventh.

The White Sox have defeated the Royals 12 of their last 13 meetings and have won four consecutive series from their AL Central rivals.

Glendon Rusch (3-8) lost his fifth consecutive decision, going six innings and allowing 10 hits and five runs, with two walks and two strikeouts.