Johnson Has a Real Blast in Sox Debut

Charles Johnson made quite a first impression on his new teammates.

Johnson hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the ninth inning of his first game with the Chicago White Sox, propelling them to a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night at Arlington, Texas.

Johnson, acquired Saturday along with Harold Baines from Baltimore, hit a 400-foot blast to left off John Wetteland (4-4) with one out in the ninth.

“I was glad I was able to get the big hit on my first day,” Johnson said. “The pitch was thrown over the middle of the plate, and I was able to get it elevated.”

The Rangers considered trading Wetteland before Monday’s deadline, but chose to hold onto their closer instead. That was also the same day Wetteland’s wife had a troublesome delivery of their third child, and the pitcher had gotten little sleep since then.

“I made a mistake and he hit it,” Wetteland said. “I should be able to handle that at-bat. You saw the other at-bats. There’s no reason for me not to execute on that one.”

Bobby Howry (2-2), who gave up a game-tying, two-run single to Gabe Kapler in the eighth, pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win.

Kapler extended his hitting streak to 15 games with the tying hit. Rafael Palmeiro was thrown out at third base on the play to end the inning.

Chicago had gone ahead in the top half with two runs. Magglio Ordonez hit a two-out RBI double to break a 1-1 tie, and Baines--in his third stint with the White Sox--followed with an RBI single.

James Baldwin gave up three runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings for his third consecutive no-decision for Chicago.

Oakland 3, Toronto 1--Randy Velarde found a memorable way to reach a milestone, hitting a game-winning, 10th-inning homer off Blue Jay closer Billy Koch at Oakland for the 1,000th hit of his career.

“To be sitting on 999, and then the 1,000th hit is a home run, that’s really special,” said Velarde, who had three hits.

Koch (5-2) knew it was a mistake the moment he let go of the ball.

“I said, ‘Oh Geez, please don’t swing,’ ” he said. “I knew it would be belt high. I might as well walked up to the plate and put it on the tee for him.”

Jason Isringhausen (5-3) struck out the side in the 10th for the victory.

The Blue Jays have lost a season-high five in a row.

New York 5, Kansas City 4--Scott Brosius was having a tough time at the plate until he homered to lead off the eighth inning to give the Yankees the victory at New York.

Brosius, back in the lineup after sitting out two games because of tightness in his right calf, struck out with the bases loaded in his previous at-bat, and earlier flied out to leave runners at second and third and struck out with a runner on.

“I had a lot of chances to get a hit with two outs, and I didn’t,” he said. “It was a nice way to end it.”

The Royals, playing without injured all-star first baseman Mike Sweeney, lost their fifth in a row.

The Yankees stole six bases--they were caught once--for their most steals since April 11, 1998.

Tampa Bay 6, Cleveland 5--Gerald Williams hit a two-run single in the ninth inning at St. Petersburg, Fla., to spoil Bob Wickman’s Cleveland debut and give the Bay Devil Rays their club-record-tying sixth consecutive victory.

Wickman came to the Indians last week in a seven-player deal from Milwaukee. But he couldn’t hold a 5-4 lead in his first shot as closer.

Williams and Wickman, former teammates, were traded from the Yankees to Milwaukee in 1996.

The Devil Rays trailed, 5-1, before scoring two runs in the sixth. Miguel Cairo had an RBI double and another run scored when Fred McGriff grounded into a double play.