Canseco Gives Ruthian Effort for Children

Jose Canseco lived up to a pregame promise he made to four young cancer patients, homering in his first two at-bats in the Chicago White Sox’s 7-6 victory over Kansas City on Wednesday night at Chicago.

On Cancer Survivors Night, 450 patients and their families turned out at Comiskey Park. Four children--all under the age of 16--were on the field for batting practice, meeting the players and getting their autographs.

Canseco did one better, promising two girls and two boys he would hit home runs for them. And he didn’t waste any time making good on his word.

With two on and two out in the first inning, Canseco lofted an 0-2 pitch just over the left-field wall, tying the score, 3-3. He hit a two-run blast in the third, giving the White Sox a 5-3 lead.

Canseco’s 454 career home runs moved him past Carl Yastrzemski (452) for 22nd on the all-time list. The five runs batted in gave Canseco 1,378, passing Johnny Bench for 57th place on the career chart.

The homers were Canseco’s seventh and eighth of the season.

Royce Clayton also homered for the White Sox and Dan Wright (1-0) gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings in his first major league start. Sandy Alomar got his 1,000th career hit with a single in the second inning.

New York 9, Texas 7--The Yankees made sure Sterling Hitchcock (1-0) won in his return to New York, hitting a season-high five home runs in the first three innings.

Chuck Knoblauch and Paul O’Neill homered in the first, Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter hit two-run homers in the second and Tino Martinez made it 8-1 with a leadoff shot in the third inning off Rob Bell (4-1).

Mariano Rivera earned his 200th career save and 35th of the season.

Cleveland 6, Oakland 5--Marty Cordova hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh inning to help the host Indians move 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Minnesota in the American League Central Division.

Cordova lined a 2-1 pitch from Jim Mecir (2-8) to right field with two out, breaking a 4-4 tie.

Seattle 7, Detroit 1--Bret Boone reached 100 runs batted in and Paul Abbott (11-2) won his ninth consecutive decision.

Boone, leading the AL in RBIs, reached 100 for the first time in his career with a run-scoring single in the ninth inning.

The host Tigers turned their first triple play in nine years in the fourth inning.

Toronto 3, Minnesota 1--Roy Halladay (1-1) pitched eight strong innings to win for the first time in more than a year as host Toronto handed the Twins their fifth consecutive loss.

The Twins have dropped 14 of 17.

Toronto’s Brad Fullmer was three-for-three with a home run.

Baltimore 6, Tampa Bay 5--Jerry Hairston hit a two-run home run at Baltimore to cap the Orioles’ first ninth-inning comeback of the season.

The Orioles, who were 0-59 when trailing after eight innings, rallied for three runs against Esteban Yan (3-4).