Chicago’s Power Silences Cleveland

Manager Charlie Manuel was glad to be back, even if he showed up at a time when his Cleveland Indians weren’t at their best.

“I got off the plane, I got in the car and heard Cleveland was ahead, 6-0,” he said. “I asked the driver to turn the radio up and I heard static, so I said to turn it off. By the time we pulled up to the ballpark, I think the White Sox had scored 10 or 11 runs,” he said.

Paul Konerko, Jose Canseco and Chris Singleton hit home runs at Chicago to give the White Sox a 19-10 victory Sunday, spoiling Manuel’s return to the dugout.

“I’ve been dying to get back,” said Manuel, who missed five games because of surgery last weekend to remove scar tissue from his colon. “I’m not happy with the way we lost.”

It looked as if the Indians were going to welcome back Manuel with a victory, but by the time he got to the dugout in the third inning, Manuel said there wasn’t much for him to do. Manuel, in his second season as the Indians’ manager, has had numerous medical problems in recent years. But he said he feels fine, physically.

He made it to Comiskey Park in time to see most of the highest-scoring game at the stadium since Chicago beat Seattle, 18-11, on April 18, 2000.

Konerko drove in five runs and Magglio Ordonez drove in four as Chicago pulled within 71/2 games of Cleveland in the AL Central. Karim Garcia hit two home runs for the Indians. The 19 runs were a season high for Chicago and the most given up by the Indians since they lost, 21-1, to the Yankees in July 1999.

After the Indians scored six times in the top of the second, Chicago scored eight times in the bottom half, capped by Konerko’s three-run home run.

The White Sox added five runs in the third and six more in the seventh. Cleveland catcher Tim Laker pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out Jose Valentin and retiring Canseco on a grounder.

Seattle 1, Baltimore 0--Joel Pineiro outpitched fellow rookie Rick Bauer (0-1) and Bret Boone hit a seventh-inning home run at Baltimore helping the Mariners improved to 19-0-4 in road series.

Oakland 3, Tampa Bay 1--Mark Mulder pitched a four-hitter and pinch-hitter Jeremy Giambi singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning for the Athletics at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Toronto 11, Detroit 0--Esteban Loaiza pitched a five-hitter for his first shutout in nearly a year and Darrin Fletcher tied a career-high with five RBIs at Toronto.

Texas 12, Kansas City 6--Rafael Palmeiro went three for four with a home run and reached two more career milestones, and Alex Rodriguez and Ruben Sierra also homered at Kansas City, Mo.

Palmeiro, one night after becoming the fourth player with 35 home runs and 100 RBIs in seven consecutive seasons, hit his 438th home run to tie Andre Dawson for 28th place on the career list, and moved past Jim Rice for 38th place with his 1,451 run batted in.