Suppan and the Royals Shut Down the Rangers

If all pitchers could throw as effectively as Jeff Suppan threw Wednesday night, people would stop worrying about the way the ball is carrying in the major leagues this season.

“That’s why it doesn’t matter if the ball is juiced or the bats are juiced,” the Rangers’ Rafael Palmiero said. “If a guy can hit his spots, stay ahead in the count and change speeds, he can win.”

Winless in his eight previous starts, Suppan shut out the Rangers on six hits in eight innings as the Royals ended Texas’ seven-game winning streak with a 3-0 victory at Kansas City, Mo.

Suppan (2-4) struck out six, walked three and kept the Rangers off-balance with unerring off-speed pitches. Jerry Spradlin pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

“That’s called pitching,” Texas Manager Johnny Oates said. “It’s pitching when you locate the ball, change speeds and throw what the hitter isn’t looking for. He did it very well tonight.”

The Rangers, who had won 10 of their last 12, entered with a major league-leading .302 batting average. They were shut out for only the second time this season.

Suppan ended the second, third, fifth and seventh innings with strikeouts, stranding four runners. The Rangers stranded 10 runners, at least one in every inning, and squandered a chance to move into first place in the AL West.

New York 12, Chicago 4--Paul O’Neill hit a three-run double and Jorge Posada had a two-run homer as the Yankees scored seven times in the seventh inning at Chicago.

The Yankees, struggling without injured Derek Jeter, entered the game with a .265 average, 13th among the 14 AL teams, and had lost eight of their previous 11 games. But they broke out Wednesday night, finishing with 18 hits.

Andy Pettitte (3-2) gave up six hits in seven innings, including solo homers by Frank Thomas in the first and Herbert Perry in the seventh.

Boston 6, Toronto 3--Brian Daubach’s three-run homer off John Frascatore in the the 11th inning gave the Red Sox a win at Boston. Daubach hit his ninth homer on a 1-and-0 pitch into the left-field screen after Jose Offerman walked and Trot Nixon singled with two out.

Detroit 10, Cleveland 9--Bobby Higginson drove in four runs for the second straight night and the Tigers hung on at Detroit. Todd Jones worked the ninth for his 13th save in 14 chances, giving up Richie Sexson’s two-run homer.

Oakland 9, Tampa Bay 2--Matt Stairs homered and drove in four runs and Kevin Appier pitched six strong innings at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Baltimore 4, Seattle 3--Delino DeShields scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning on an error by second baseman Mark McLemore at Baltimore.

Around the League

Cleveland put Paul Shuey on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right hip. To replace Shuey, the Indians brought up Tim Drew from double-A Akron. . . . Kansas City Manager Tony Muser was given a two-year contract extension, through the 2002 season. . . . Chris Closuer, a former Northwest Airlines executive, was hired as chief executive officer of the Minnesota Twins. . . . Oakland recalled infielder Frank Menechino from triple-A Sacramento and sent infielder Jorge Velandia outright to the minor league team.