Hoiles Spoils the Night for Johnson

Randy Johnson’s 16-game winning streak came to an end Thursday night as the Baltimore Orioles got two homers and six runs batted in from Chris Hoiles in a 13-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Camden Yards.

Johnson (4-1) struck out 10 but gave up five runs, six hits and two walks in six innings. He was trying to tie the American League record of 17 consecutive victories, set in the 1930s by Johnny Allen of Cleveland and tied by Dave McNally of the Orioles in 1968-69.

“Randy had a heck of a streak. He should be proud of what he’s done,” Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said. Johnson wasn’t talking.

Mike Mussina (4-1) yielded one earned run and five hits in seven-plus innings to win his fourth consecutive decision. The right-hander struck out a season-high eight and walked one in improving to 8-1 in 10 career starts against Seattle.

Johnson had not lost a decision in 24 starts since Aug. 1, 1995, but the left-hander was done in by Hoiles, who hit a two-run double in the first inning and a three-run homer in the sixth shortly after a 57-minute rain delay.

Hoiles added his sixth home run of the season off Bobb Wells in a five-run eighth that included a homer by Brady Anderson. Hoiles’ two homers and six RBIs tied career highs.

Kansas City 4, Detroit 0--Tim Belcher will never love pitching in Tiger Stadium. But the right-hander doesn’t hate it anymore, either.

“It’s certainly not healthy to go on hating pitching someplace, because you always have to pitch there again,” Belcher said after he escaped several jams to win his third consecutive decision, a shutout at Detroit.

Belcher openly hated Tiger Stadium when he pitched for Detroit in 1994, and with good reason. His 7-15 record that year was the worst of his career.

Jay Bell homered as the Royals gained a split of a two-game series at Detroit.

Belcher (4-3) scattered four hits in seven innings, lowering his earned-run average to 1.12 over his last five starts.

Toronto 4, Cleveland 3--Juan Guzman held the hot-hitting Indians to three hits in seven innings and the Blue Jays survived a three-run homer by David Justice in the ninth inning to win at Cleveland.

Guzman (3-2), who left his last start after four innings because of a sore shoulder, retired 14 consecutive batters after Brian Giles doubled down the left-field line in the second. He tired in the seventh, getting out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam when Giles grounded into a double play.

Justice’s 11th homer of the season came off Dan Plesac to make it 4-3. Jim Thome and Matt Williams started the rally with singles off Tim Crabtree. Julio Franco followed Justice with a single but was stranded at second when Paul Quantrill retired Sandy Alomar and Omar Vizquel on line outs to record his first save.

New York 5, Texas 4--Mariano Rivera struck out Juan Gonzalez with the bases loaded to end the game, preserving Andy Pettitte’s sixth victory as the Yankees won at home.

The game marked the third consecutive victory for the Yankees and a season-high third consecutive loss for the Rangers.

Minnesota 10, Boston 7--Paul Molitor called it ugly, but his tiebreaking, two-run bloop single capped a five-run sixth inning as the Twins won at Boston. It was only the third victory in the last 15 games for the Twins.

“When the club’s struggling, you look for little things that haven’t been working for you to start falling, and get things going in your favor,” Molitor said. “We’ll take them any way we can get them.”

Chicago 10, Oakland 6--Frank Thomas and Lyle Mouton hit first-inning home runs and Norberto Martin added a three-run homer in the third to power the White Sox at Chicago.

Thomas hit his third home run of the season with two out in the first and, after Albert Belle walked, Mouton hit his second of the year.

Phillips’ RBI single in the second made it 4-0 before Martin’s homer put the White Sox ahead 7-0.

James Baldwin (1-4) survived a scary comebacker off his shoulder in the fifth to win his first game in six starts. He gave up two hits over five innings, struck out six and walked two before leaving as a precautionary measure because of a bruised shoulder.

Mike Mohler (0-4) took the loss and fell to 0-10 in 17 career starts.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Chris Hoiles Baltimore 2 HRs, double, 6 RBIs Win David Justice Cleveland 3-run HR was 7th in 10 games Loss Otis Nixon Toronto 3 for 4, 3 stolen bases, 2 runs Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Tim Belcher Kansas City 7 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs Win Mike Mussina Baltimore 7 innings, 8 strikeouts, 1 run Win Juan Guzman Toronto 7 innings, 3 strikeouts, 0 runs Win

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