Wells Gets Extension and Pays a Dividend

Only hours after the Toronto Blue Jays rewarded him with a contract extension, David Wells returned the favor.

Wells pitched his first complete game this year and Tony Fernandez got the winning hit Sunday as the Blue Jays defeated the Kansas City Royals, 2-1, at Toronto.

Wells (8-5), who agreed to an $11.5-million, one-year extension through 2001 in the morning, gave up four hits, no walks and struck out seven.

With a hefty paycheck assured, Wells promised to give $500 to the player who provided the game-winning hit.

“It was nice to bail him out, he has to pay up now,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez became the career hit leader among Dominican-born players in dramatic fashion, singling home the winning run with two out in the bottom of the ninth.

“All I wanted in that situation was to get a base hit to deliver the winning run,” he said.

Fernandez, who didn’t start but replaced Willis Otanez at third in the top of the ninth, raised his major league-leading average to .411.

His 2,178th career hit surpassed Julio Franco for most hits by a Dominican-born player.

“I’m very pleased with the outcome, it’s a great honor,” said Fernandez, one of only four Dominicans--Franco, Cesar Cedeno and Felipe Alou are the others--with more than 2,000 hits.

“So many ballplayers have come out of the Dominican Republic and to have only four of us with 2,000-plus hits, I think that’s surprising.”

Boston 5, Texas 2--Pedro Martinez got his 13th victory and lowered his earned-run average to 2.10--both best in the major leagues--to lead the Red Sox over the Rangers at Boston.

Martinez (13-2) gave up one run and six hits in eight innings, walked none and struck out 10, increasing his total to 161, also tops in the majors. He reached double digits in strikeouts for the 10th time in 15 starts this season, and the 45th time in his career.

Martinez struck out at least one batter in every inning except the seventh. Tim Wakefield got the final two outs for his fifth save.

Trot Nixon’s first career triple highlighted a three-run fourth as the Red Sox won for the fifth time in seven games following a 1-7 slide. Nixon went three for four with two runs batted in, and Nomar Garciaparra added three singles.

Texas was held under four runs for the eighth consecutive game and has lost six of nine. Ryan Glynn (0-2) gave up three runs--two earned--and eight hits in five innings.

Tampa Bay 6, Minnesota 5--Miguel Cairo’s run-scoring single in the 11th inning lifted the Devil Rays to a wild victory at Minneapolis.

Aaron Ledesma got an infield single, his third hit of the game, to lead off the 11th against Mike Trombley (1-4). Ledesma advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Trombley walked pinch-hitter Wade Boggs intentionally and then got pinch-hitter Fred McGriff to line out.

Cairo followed with his career-high fourth hit, a soft liner into center field.

Al Newman (1-1), who was recalled Saturday from triple-A Durham, pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings for the victory.

Baltimore 8, Chicago 4--B.J. Surhoff extended his career-high hitting streak to 21 games with a home run and Harold Baines homered for the second consecutive day against his old team as the Orioles defeated the White Sox at Chicago.

The Orioles rocked James Baldwin (3-7) for seven runs and seven hits in five innings, increasing his ERA to 5.60. Baldwin, who has lost three consecutive starts, gave up three homers and walked five.

Baldwin didn’t get much help offensively from his teammates. Chicago loaded the bases with one out in the third inning, but came away without any runs.

Baltimore, on the other hand, got offense from just about everybody. Brady Anderson and Albert Belle also homered, and the Orioles banged out 12 hits. Michael Figga, batting ninth, was the only starter without a hit.

Jason Johnson (1-1) scattered four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings for his first victory. Johnson, called up from triple A on May 20, hadn’t won since May 4. Mike Timlin got two outs for his eighth save.

Oakland 6, Detroit 5--John Jaha homered twice for the second day in a row, leading the Athletics at Detroit.

Jaha, who got his third multihomer game of the season and ninth of his career, has homered in the first three games of the four-game series, raising his season total to 14.

Jimmy Haynes (5-6) won for the fourth time in five decisions, giving up four runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts. Bill Haselman’s third-inning homer was the only time a Tiger got past first until the eighth inning.

Billy Taylor got three outs for his 17th save in 20 chances.

Brian Moehler (5-8) gave up five runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Dean Palmer hit an eighth-inning grand slam off T.J. Mathews, his seventh career slam. On Oakland’s trip, the first hitters faced by relievers are eight for 12 with 10 RBIs.