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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) – Juan Gonzalez went back-to-back and never came
close to hitting a home run.
|  | | Roberto Alomar watches his first home run of the season sail over the wall. |
Gonzalez threw out runners from right field on consecutive plays
in the sixth inning Saturday night and Roberto Alomar hit a
two-run, go-ahead homer to lead the Cleveland Indians over the
Texas Rangers 7-3.
He's better known for hitting 400-foot homers and bashing
doubles off walls, but Gonzalez certainly isn't all-hit, no-field.
"A lot of good hitters like (Rod) Carew, Tony Gwynn played good
defense," Gonzalez said. "But everybody sees the offense, home
runs, RBI and forget the defense. You don't always hit two homers,
you can win with defense, too."
Gonzalez cut down Randy Velarde at the plate for the first out
in the sixth and then caught a soft liner and doubled Rafael
Palmeiro off first to end Texas' threat.
"That's nothing I haven't seen before," Texas manager Johnny
Oates said. "That was the most important part of the game. They
were big plays."
Alomar's shot in the sixth off Rick Helling (1-4) was his first
homer in 81 at-bats this season and made him a .400 hitter
(10-for-25) in his career against the right-hander.
Einar Diaz had three doubles and three RBIs for the Indians.
Dave Burba (3-1) was both bothered and bailed out by his defense
in the sixth when Kenny Lofton lost a ball in the lights and
Gonzalez recorded two assists.
"He made two great plays," Burba said. "He won the game right
there."
Helped by a routine fly that fell for a double, the Rangers took
a 2-1 lead in the sixth. But Gonzalez showed he can do much more
than just hit and prevented Texas from scoring more.
Rusty Greer opened with a fly to left-center that Lofton
appeared to have lined up, but suddenly couldn't locate and it
dropped for a double. Burba appeared to be rattled by the play and
loaded the bases with walks to Velarde and Alex Rodriguez.
Palmeiro followed with an RBI single, but Gonzalez threw out
Velarde at the plate. Andres Galarraga then hit a soft liner to
right that Gonzalez ran down near the line and fired to first to
double off Palmeiro.
"I tried to get a good jump there because I didn't want a force
at second," Palmeiro explained. "I went one step too much. We
kind of ran ourselves out of the inning."
Burba limited the majors' top-hitting team to two runs and six
hits in 6 2-3 innings. He left after walking No. 9 hitter Doug
Mirabelli with two outs in the seventh, but Ricardo Rincon worked
out of a two-on jam.
Steve Karsay extended his scoreless streak to 14 innings by
pitching the eighth. Bob Wickman allowed a leadoff homer to Frank
Catalanotto in the ninth before getting the last three outs.
With the Indians trailing 2-1, Lofton beat out a slow roller to
second leading off, and one out later, Alomar hit his first homer
since Sept. 30 into the seats in right.
Cleveland scored twice in the seventh on Diaz's RBI single and
Omar Vizquel's sacrifice fly. Diaz added a two-run double in the
eighth.
Lofton made bad and good baserunning decisions on the same play
in the third to tie it 1-1.
Diaz doubled and Lofton singled before Vizquel, batting .125
with runners in scoring position, struck out. As Alomar struck out
swinging, Lofton broke late for second but stopped in the basepath
when he saw catcher Doug Mirabelli's throw had beaten him.
Lofton, though, stayed alive in a rundown long enough for Diaz
to break from third and score.
Texas took a 1-0 lead in the third on Greer's sacrifice fly.
Game notes
Diaz is batting .500 (14-for-28) against right-handers and
only .045 (1-for-22) against lefties. ... Texas reliever Mark
Petkovsek lowered his career ERA at Jacobs Field from 202.50 to
76.50 by giving up two runs and three hits in 1 1-3 innings. In two
innings at the Jake, he has given up 17 earned runs and 20 hits.
... Gonzalez has five assists this season. ... The Rangers stole
three bases off Diaz, who came in 5-for-6 throwing out runners. ...
Indians 1B Jim Thome is keeping his bobblehead doll on the top
shelf of his locker for good luck. Thome, who has been in a slump
all season, hit a two-run, game-winning homer last Saturday on Jim
Thome Bobblehead Doll Day. ... Texas homered in its 14th straight
game to tie a club record, first set in 1991.
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OTHER GAMES
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RECAPS
Kansas City 8
Boston 2
Tampa Bay 7
Detroit 3
NY Yankees 7
Oakland 6
Anaheim 4
Toronto 1
Seattle 8
Chi. White Sox 5
Cleveland 7
Texas 3
Baltimore 5
Minnesota 2
Milwaukee 8
Montreal 4
NY Mets 6
St. Louis 5
Houston 6
Florida 4
Cincinnati 9
Colorado 4
San Francisco 5
Chicago Cubs 0
Atlanta 3
Arizona 1
San Diego 8
Pittsburgh 1
Los Angeles 7
Philadelphia 6
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