Mcgwire Writes Tale At The Jake

Mark McGwire hit two tape-measure home runs the first ever off the Jacobs Field scoreboard and a tiebreaking shot in the 10th - as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Cleveland Indians 11-9 Wednesday night.

McGwire followed a mammoth 485-foot blast in the third with a 459-foot shot to straightaway center off Jose Mesa in the 10th, breaking a 7-all tie.

McGwire’s third-inning homer was the first to reach the scoreboard in left field. The stadium opened in 1994.

McGwire’s other homer, his 11th of the season, landed in the picnic area beyond the center field fence, giving him two of the three longest homers ever at Jacobs Field.

Blue Jays 1, Royals 0

Kansas City, Mo.

Roger Clemens pitched three-hit ball over eight innings and Carlos Delgado drove in the only run with a second-inning homer as Toronto beat Kansas City.

Clemens (4-0), struck out seven, walked two and lowered his ERA to 1.72.

Red Sox 11, Angels 2

Boston

Nomar Garciaparra homered, doubled twice and scored four runs as Boston spoiled rookie Jason Dickson’s unbeaten season.

Dickson (4-1) had pitched a complete game shutout in a 2-0 victory over Boston in the teams’ second game of the year in which Garciaparra had two of the Red Sox’ five hits.

Tigers 8, Brewers 4

Detroit

Melvin Nieves’ three-run double highlighted a four-run third inning as Detroit beat the Brewers, snapping Milwaukee’s four-game winning streak.

Justin Thompson (2-2) gave up three runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts in seven innings as Detroit won for just the second time in seven games.

Orioles 12, Twins 3

Minneapolis

B.J. Surhoff and Pete Incaviglia homered on consecutive pitches and Baltimore sent Minnesota to its seventh consecutive loss.

Surhoff had four of the Orioles’ 19 hits. He put the Orioles ahead 1-0 with a homer in the second inning.

Rangers 6, White Sox 2

Chicago

Mike Simms hit a first-inning grand slam and Benji Gil added a two-run shot in the sixth for Texas.

The game, played in blustery weather, was called after a 40-minute delay with no outs and Rangers on first and second in the top of the seventh inning.

Starting pitchers Ken Hill of the Rangers and Wilson Alvarez of the White Sox were forced to leave the game early with shoulder injuries.

Clearing the bases

The Texas Rangers released veteran pitcher Kevin Gross from Class AAA Oklahoma City, one day before he would have become a free agent if not promoted to the majors. Gross, 11-8 with a 5.22 ERA with Texas last year, was signed as a free agent March 17. He made six starts with the 89ers, going 2-3 with a 4.83 ERA. … Hideki Irabu was given permission by the Japanese commissioner’s office to begin contract negotiations with the Yankees, who acquired the rights to the right-hander last week in a trade with the San Diego Padres. … Kansas City outfielder Jermaine Dye will start a rehabilitation assignment with the Omaha Royals today.