Mesa Returns To Cheers, Win

American League

Two days after he was acquitted in a rape trial, Jose Mesa was back on the mound Friday, getting the final three outs as the Cleveland Indians routed the Anaheim Angels 15-3.

The 30-year-old reliever, activated earlier in the day, entered to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 42,643 at Jacobs Field.

Mesa, who has 85 saves the past two seasons, gave up one hit - a single up the middle by former Indian Eddie Murray - in a scoreless ninth. He recorded two flyouts to left and a broken-bat grounder to first that ended the game with the fans on their feet.

Athletics 3, Yankees 1 (12) New York

With a game-tying homer by Mark McGwire in the ninth inning and a pair of RBI singles in the 12th, Oakland ruined New York’s celebration of its World Series title, winning the Yankees’ home opener.

Yankees fans were all set to head for the exits in the ninth inning to celebrate a win when McGwire sat them right back down with his third homer this season.

McGwire hit Mariano Rivera’s first pitch into the black section of empty bleachers in center field, a 464-foot shot and only the 13th ball ever hit there.

Orioles 9, Rangers 3 Baltimore

Rafael Palmeiro homered twice onto Eutaw Street and drove in four runs, leading Mike Mussina and Baltimore over Texas.

Tigers 5, White Sox 4 Detroit

Matt Walbeck came home on the front end of a double steal and Omar Olivares won for the first time in 10 starts as Detroit beat Chicago before about 1,000 fans.

Blue Jays at Brewers, ppd. Milwaukee

A snowstorm prevented Milwaukee from opening its three-game series against Toronto. The forecast called for up to 5 inches of heavy snow overnight.

Twins at Royals, ppd. Kansas City

The game was postponed because of rain and cold, the second straight night Kansas City had a game called off by bad weather. No makeup date was set. Snow was in the forecast, putting this afternoon’s game in jeopardy.

Clearing the bases

A perturbed Dwight Gooden criticized the medical personnel who treated him for what proved to be a small left-side hernia and charged that the New York Yankees should have diagnosed it earlier than last Monday. Gooden revealed he told a minor-league trainer last November he was feeling pain and contended that not enough was done to detect the extent of the injury. Gooden and Darryl Strawberry (fluid on left knee) were placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday. …

Baseball’s players’ association is pushing for a meeting between Roberto Alomar and umpire John Hirschbeck to try to put their confrontation last September behind them. Alomar received a five-game suspension for spitting in Hirschbeck’s face after being ejected from a game in Toronto during the Orioles’ run at the playoffs last September. … Anaheim Angels pitcher Mark Gubicza was sent back to California to have his sore arm checked out. After being rocked for the second straight start, Gubicza said he was leaving the team to see if an injury is to blame for his 25.07 ERA.