Hargrove Wins First as Oriole

The thick cigar sat poised in the ash tray and a gold lighter lay at his fingertips. Mike Hargrove was clearly ready to put the finishing touches on his first victory as manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

“It tasted pretty good when I lit it up earlier, but it’s going to taste a lot better now,” he said.

Charles Johnson hit two homers and drove in five runs Wednesday night as Baltimore beat the Cleveland Indians, 11-7, giving Hargrove an emotional win over his former team.

“I think he was very excited about this win,” Johnson said. “We all wanted to get that first win out of the way. But for him, coming to a new ballclub after being in Cleveland all those years, you could see the excitement in him.”

Johnson’s second homer, a two-run shot in the eighth inning off former Oriole Scott Kamieniecki, broke a 7-7 tie. He also hit a three-run homer to give Baltimore a 7-6 lead in the sixth.

Johnson struggled against Cleveland last year, going just two-for-27 with one RBI. He also started that season in a slump, hitting .176 with one home run in April, but he’s determined to get off to a good start in his second season in Baltimore.

Albert Belle hit a three-run homer for the Orioles, who rebounded from an opening day loss to Cleveland.

Charlie Manuel, Hargrove’s replacement in Cleveland, was ejected in his second game as a major league manager. Manuel was complaining about the strike zone from the dugout when home plate umpire Ed Rapuano ousted him in the third inning.

“I felt like he wasn’t calling balls that were close to the plate,” Manuel said. “At the same time, the umpire didn’t beat us.”

Jim Thome homered and Omar Vizquel had three hits for the Indians, who scored two runs on wild pitches and two on bases-loaded walks.

Belle’s homer came off Chuck Finley in the first inning. The Indians scored five runs in the second and led, 6-4, in the sixth before Johnson connected off Steve Reed to give Baltimore a short-lived lead.

Cleveland made it 7-7 in the seventh when Kenny Lofton reached on an error, took third on a single by Vizquel and scored on a wild pitch by Chuck McElroy.

Will Clark hit a one-out single in the eighth and Johnson followed by driving a 2-1 pitch deep into the left-field seats. B.J. Surhoff also had a two-run, two-out double off Tom Martin.

B.J. Ryan (1-0) got the last out in the eighth to earn his second major league win.

Finley, making his debut with Cleveland after spending his previous 14 seasons with the Angels, allowed four runs on four hits in five innings but was in position to get the victory before Johnson homered off Reed.

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

* Charles Johnson, Baltimore: 2 for 3, 2 homers, 5 RBIs in 11-7 victory over Cleveland.

* Matt Lawton, Minnesota: 3 for 4, homer, 4 RBIs in 10-7 victory over Tampa Bay.

* Joe Randa, Kansas City: 2 for 3, 2 homers, 3 RBIs in 4-3 victory over Toronto.

*

PITCHING

* Esteban Yan, Tampa Bay: 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 unearned run, 1 walk in 10-7 loss to Minnesota.

* Omar Olivares, Oakland: 7 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs in 8-2 victory over Detroit.

* Jose Rosado, Kansas City: 6 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks in 4-3 victory over Toronto.