Selby Gives Indians a Grand Win

Bill Selby gave the rebuilding Cleveland Indians and their fans some much-needed excitement Sunday at Jacobs Field.

Selby’s grand slam capped Cleveland’s six-run ninth inning against Mariano Rivera as the Indians rallied from seven runs behind to stun the New York Yankees, 10-7.

“This one came out of nowhere,” said shortstop Omar Vizquel, who has been a part of many dramatic Cleveland comebacks. “But this is really special because it’s the New York Yankees and Mariano Rivera.”

Trailing, 7-0, after four innings, the Indians cut it to 7-4 heading into the ninth against Rivera (1-4), who blew his second save of the series after converting 17 consecutive chances.

“Good teams bounce back from whatever bad defeat they endure and this is one of the worst,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “This was a blown save plus.”

Chris Magruder’s run-scoring groundout and Ellis Burks’ run-scoring double made it 7-6. Rivera then intentionally walked Thome to load the bases with one out. He struck out pinch-hitter Travis Fryman, bringing up Selby, who had five homers in 269 career at-bats.

“Rivera is simply the best so all I wanted to do was put my bat on the ball,” Selby said. “With him, you know what is coming and still can’t hit it.”

Selby nearly won it with a liner down the right-field line that was foul by less than a foot. On the next pitch, Selby connected for a drive over the right-field fence for his first homer since June 17, 2001--when he was with Cincinnati.

Seattle 7, Tampa Bay 6--Ruben Sierra hit a tiebreaking home run on the first pitch he saw in the top of the eighth inning to give the visiting Mariners the victory.

The Mariners gave Freddy Garcia a five-run lead after two innings that the All-Star pitcher couldn’t protect. The Devil Rays wiped out a 6-2 deficit with four runs off Garcia in the sixth inning.

Left-hander Mark Watson (1-0) got two outs for his first career victory. Kazuhiro Sasaki worked the ninth for his 23rd save in 27 opportunities.

Baltimore 6, Oakland 3--Jay Gibbons hit two home runs and had a career-high five RBIs at Camden Yards as the Orioles ended their scoring drought to avert a four-game sweep.

After scoring only one run in the first three games of the series, the Orioles got to Oakland starter Cory Lidle (2-8), who yielded six runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Toronto 6, Boston 5--Eric Hinske hit a game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth after connecting for a tying home run in the seventh at Toronto as the Blue Jays beat the Red Sox for the third straight time.

Hinske homered off Tim Wakefield in the seventh and hit his 16th homer on the first pitch from closer Ugueth Urbina (0-4) in the ninth.

Behind, 5-3, in the top of the ninth, Boston’s Trot Nixon tied it with a two-run shot off closer Kelvim Escobar (5-4).

Chicago 6, Detroit 4--Carlos Lee had two homers among his four hits at Detroit and the White Sox took advantage of a throwing error to end a three-game losing streak.

Lee hit solo shots in the third and fifth innings to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead.

Trailing, 4-3, in the eighth, Lee hit a grounder to third baseman Shane Halter, whose wild throw put Lee on second. Lee was given a hit and Halter was charged with an error.

Magglio Ordonez moved Lee to third with his third hit of the game. Jose Valentin then hit a one-out, two-run triple into the right-field corner.

Minnesota 5, Texas 4--Torii Hunter and David Ortiz homered in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Twins overcame two home runs by Alex Rodriguez.

Trailing, 4-3, Hunter led off the eighth with a shot to right-center off Colby Lewis (1-2). Then Ortiz homered to center, giving the Twins the lead for good.

The rally came a half-inning after Rodriguez, who homered for the third consecutive game, appeared to send the Rangers to their second straight win over the Twins with his two-run shot off Mike Jackson. The homers gave Rodriguez 31, the most in the majors.