| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
BALTIMORE -- Mike Mussina interrupted his most frustrating
season in the majors with one of the finest performances of his
career.
|  | | Mike Mussina turned in probably his best performance of the season, giving up just one hit and striking out 15. |
Mussina held the Minnesota Twins hitless through six innings and
settled for his third career one-hitter, striking out a club-record
15, as the Baltimore Orioles cruised to a 10-0 victory Tuesday
night.
Ron Coomer ended Mussina's no-hit bid with a solid
opposite-field single with two outs in the seventh. Mussina walked
two batters, and two Twins reached on errors in the ninth inning.
"When you get done with a game like this, everybody comes to
you and says, 'You look different today.' But I didn't go out with
any special frame of mind," he said. "Every pitch that I made a
mistake on, they either took it or fouled it off."
He joked about the hit by Coomer, who started the game 4-for-14
lifetime against the right-hander.
"I knew that Coomer was going to get a hit off me, because he
hits one every game," Mussina said.
It was a rare gem in an otherwise unpleasant season for Mussina
(7-10), whose lackluster record can be attributed heavily to a lack
of run support. He came in receiving just 3.29 runs per nine
innings, lowest in the American League.
"We were wondering how he's 6-10," Twins manager Tom Kelly
said. "I've seen Mussina pitch a lot of good games over the years,
but this game was as good as I've seen him. We were overmatched. He
just dominated our batters."
On this night, Mussina got plenty of offensive backing while
lowering his ERA to 3.65. After Baltimore built a 7-0 lead after
five innings, the only suspense was whether Mussina would complete
the first no-hitter in the majors this season.
"The way he was throwing, I started thinking about the
no-hitter in the second inning," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove
said. "I got real nervous in the fourth and fifth innings, then
when he got to the sixth I started getting excited, thinking he's
got a real shot at this."
Mussina had 10 strikeouts through five innings and fanned six
in a row at one point. He also struck out 15 in the 1997 playoffs.
Albert Belle hit a three-run homer and a two-run double, and
Brook Fordyce, playing in his third game with the Orioles after
being obtained in a trade with the White Sox, hit two solo homers.
It was the first two-homer game of Fordyce's career, but his
biggest thrill came from being on the receiver end of Mussina's
vast variety of pitches.
"It was exciting for me to catch, just a fun night all
around," he said.
Baltimore, which unloaded six veterans in a trading spree that
ended Monday, has won four in a row. Newcomer Melvin Mora went
3-for-4 with a walk.
Twins rookie Mark Redman, who had won four consecutive starts,
allowed seven runs and seven hits in four-plus innings. Redman
(9-5) gave up a career-high three homers, and the seven runs
equaled the amount he yielded during his four-game winning streak.
The Orioles went up 1-0 in the first without a hit when Redman
walked three batters before Chris Casimiro, playing in his second
game in the majors, hit a run-scoring grounder.
Fordyce hit a 1-2 pitch over the wall in center leading off the
second, then connected with one out in the fourth to make it 3-0.
Delino DeShields singled in a run in the fifth before Belle hit
a towering fly that hit the foul pole. It was his 20th homer, the
second in two nights after a career-high string of 27 games without
a home run.
A throwing error by Twins shortstop Denny Hocking produced an
unearned run in the eighth before Belle doubled in two runs.
Game notes
The start of the game was delayed by rain for 1 hour, 58
minutes. ... Belle has hit 20 homers in 10 consecutive seasons. ...
David Ortiz, who came in on a 24-for-45 tear, went 0-for-3 with two
strikeouts. ... Minnesota's Chad Moeller struck out in all three
at-bats.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Minnesota Clubhouse
Baltimore Clubhouse
RECAPS
Oakland 3
Toronto 1
NY Yankees 5
Kansas City 4
Tampa Bay 6
Cleveland 5
Baltimore 10
Minnesota 0
Chi. White Sox 4
Texas 3
Detroit 6
Anaheim 3
Seattle 5
Boston 4
Colorado 2
Chicago Cubs 1
Pittsburgh 6
Los Angeles 0
Los Angeles 5
Pittsburgh 3
(2nd game)
Houston 4
Florida 3
Montreal 4
St. Louis 0
NY Mets 3
Cincinnati 2
San Francisco 13
Milwaukee 8
Atlanta 4
Arizona 2
San Diego 10
Philadelphia 9
|
