A’s Mulder Starts Off Well

The kid handled the heat like a seasoned pro.

Rookie Mark Mulder, forced to face the Cleveland Indians in his major league debut, pitched six innings for the win Tuesday night as the Oakland Athletics beat the Indians, 8-5, at Cleveland.

“He pitched a great ballgame for us,” Oakland Manager Art Howe said. “It’s like taking a kid and teaching him to swim. Sometimes you throw them in the wading pool and sometimes you throw them in the deep end. That’s what we did.”

Mulder, a 22-year-old left-hander recalled earlier in the day from triple-A Sacramento, gave up four runs and five hits and struck out six in six innings for the A’s, who were swept at home by Cleveland last week.

Oakland is only 3-13 against the Indians the past two seasons.

New York 6, Texas 3--Orlando Hernandez pitched an eight-hitter, and Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada hit home runs as the Yankees continued their dominance of the Rangers with a win at Arlington, Texas.

The Yankees won their seventh consecutive game, matching their longest streak from last season. The streak began last week with two victories over the Rangers--who have lost 35 of their last 46 games with the Yankees.

Chicago 18, Seattle 11--In a slugfest at Chicago, Mark Johnson hit a three-run homer and Greg Norton added a two-run shot in an 11-run fourth inning that lifted the White Sox past the high-scoring Mariners.

The Mariners, who scored 47 runs in a three-game sweep in Toronto over the weekend, gave up their most runs in an inning since allowing 11 against the Blue Jays on July 20, 1984. Edgar Martinez went four for four with four RBIs.

Boston 7, Detroit 0--Trot Nixon homered and Pete Schourek, signed by the Red Sox two days before the start of the season, pitched gave up six hits seven strong innings at Detroit.

Minnesota 3, Kansas City 1--Brad Radke gave up six hits in eight innings at Minneapolis for his first victory.

Tampa Bay at Baltimore, ppd.--For the second consecutiveday, the area was hit hard by rain, and the game was called off more than three hours before its scheduled start. It was rescheduled for Thursday.