Belle Lets Elbow Do All the Talking

Frank Thomas delivered shots with his bat. Albert Belle used his elbow.

Thomas got four more hits against Oakland, and the Chicago White Sox won, 10-4, on Sunday at Oakland in a game marked by Belle throwing an elbow at the face of Oakland catcher George Williams.

The White Sox completed a three-game sweep, and won their fourth in a row overall. They are 7-0 against the Athletics this year.

Williams was preparing to receive a relay throw after Norberto Martin’s sixth-inning single when he got smacked by Belle, who scored as the ball got past Williams.

“The throw was off to the left side,” Williams said. “I was just going for it and all of a sudden, I got smoked in the face. I thought it was very unprofessional he had to do that.”

Belle, through a team spokesman, declined to comment.

Chicago Manager Terry Bevington said he didn’t see anything wrong with Belle’s actions.

“In baseball, when a guy gets in the way, you basically just have to shove him out of the way and he did it as gentle as possible,” Bevington said. “It was nothing really. I don’t even call that an incident.”

Williams glared at Belle as the White Sox star walked away. In his next at-bat, Belle was hit by a pitch in the left leg from Aaron Small.

Williams said Belle spoke to him before getting hit by the pitch.

“He was trying to apologize that he hit me and stuff,” Williams said. “I just said, ‘Yeah.’ I wasn’t happy with him after what he had done. He knew he’d done something wrong.”

Thomas, meanwhile, went four for four with two RBIs, a walk and three runs scored.

Texas 4, New York 2--John Wetteland earned a save in his first appearance against his former team, striking out Cecil Fielder with two runners on base to finish the Rangers’ victory at Arlington, Texas.

Wetteland, the MVP of the World Series for the Yankees last season, relieved to start the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Tim Raines. Derek Jeter flied out and Bernie Williams struck out, but Tino Martinez walked on four pitches.

Wetteland struck out Fielder for his 10th save in 11 chances. Wetteland did not pitch in Texas’ first five games against New York this year.

David Cone (5-3) overcame a shaky start and pitched his first complete game of the season. He gave up eight hits, including a two-run homer by Juan Gonzalez, walked none and struck out nine.

Detroit 6, Kansas City 5--Tony Clark had four hits and Travis Fryman added three as the Tigers edged the Royals at Kansas City.

Kansas City right-hander Tim Belcher (5-4), who went into the game with the best earned-run average in the American League at 1.72, gave up a career-high 13 hits in 6 1/3 innings. He gave up six runs to raise his ERA to 2.35.

Minnesota 7, Boston 5--Scott Stahoviak homered and doubled, and the Twins got two gift hits on balls lost against the Metrodome roof during a five-run first inning at Minneapolis.

Stahoviak, who came off the disabled list Friday, hit a solo homer in the third. It was his first hit and RBI since breaking a bone in his left hand on opening day.

Cleveland 8, Toronto 6--Matt Williams hit two of four Indian home runs, leading the victory over the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Sandy Alomar and Jim Thome also connected for Cleveland, which leads the majors with 71 home runs. The Indians won for the third time in eight games.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Matt Williams Cleveland 2 for 5, 2 runs, Win 3 RBIs, 2 homers Scott Stahoviak Minnesota 2 for 3, 2 runs, Win double, homer Mike Sweeney Kansas City 2 for 3, 4 RBIs, 2 homers Loss Frank Thomas Chicago 4 for 4, 16 for 23 (.696) against Oakland Win Jose Canseco Oakland 3 for 4, 3 RBIs, homer Loss

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result John Wetteland Texas Got first save against former team (Yankees) Win

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