Thomas Falls Short of On-Base Mark

L.A. Times Archives

May 21, 1997 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

Frank Thomas reached base in his first three plate appearances, then fell one short of Ted Williams’ record for most consecutive times on base as the White Sox defeated the Boston Red Sox, 10-1, Tuesday at Chicago.

Thomas doubled in the first inning off Tim Wakefield (1-3), then walked in the third and fourth to pull within one of Williams’ record of reaching in 16 consecutive plate appearances, set in 1957. Thomas flied out to center in the fifth.

“Frank will set a lot of records before it’s over,” Chicago Manager Terry Bevington said. “They’ll say Frank was the best hitter of his time. It’s fitting because they’ll say Williams was the best of his time.”

Thomas left the game ill in the eighth inning.

Jaime Navarro (4-2) won his 10th consecutive decision against Boston since July 1, 1991, giving up one run and six hits in eight innings with five strikeouts and one walk. Chicago has won five in a row, Boston has lost nine of 10.

Thomas hit a run-scoring double in the first, then scored in the third on a two-run double by Albert Belle, who extended his hitting streak to 16. Harold Baines followed with a RBI double to make the score, 4-0.

In his streak, Thomas had 10 hits (six singles, three doubles, one homer) and five walks.

Texas 8, Oakland 3--Bill Ripken broke a fourth-inning tie with his first homer in almost a year, and Rusty Greer and Lee Stevens added two-run homers for the Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

Bobby Witt (7-0) struggled early but tied the team record for best start, set by Jim Kern in 1979 and matched by Jeff Russell in 1988. Warren Newson set a career high with four hits, including two doubles and a triple.

Ariel Prieto (3-3) gave up seven runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings for Oakland, which has lost four in a row.

Ripken hit his first homer since June 5, 1996, the 18th of his career in 2,513 at-bats.

Cleveland 4, Kansas City 3--Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer with a cracked bat in the eighth inning at Cleveland to lead the Indians to their 10th come-from-behind victory this season.

Ramirez said he knew his bat was cracked when he went to the plate but used it anyway.

“I didn’t think it was going out from the way it sounded,” said Ramirez, back in the lineup after sitting out six games recently because of a strained abdominal muscle.

The Indians, who moved past the Royals to retake first in the Central, trailed, 3-0, through six innings, got two runs in the seventh and went ahead in the eighth. David Justice led off the inning with a single and Ramirez followed with his seventh home run.

“When you walk into this ballpark, you’ve got to be afraid to come here,” Jim Thome said. “That’s what we want.”

Paul Shuey (1-1) retired all four batters he faced in his first appearance since coming off the disabled list. Mike Jackson pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Cleveland’s Julio Franco extended his hitting streak to 18 games.

Baltimore 4, Detroit 3--The Orioles used a strong pitching performance by Scott Kamieniecki and a four-run fifth inning at Baltimore for their fourth consecutive victory.

Kamieniecki (3-2) took a one-hitter and 4-0 lead into the eighth, but he lost a possible first career shutout on Brian Hunter’s run-scoring single.

“I was going for it, I’m not going to lie,” Kamieniecki said.

“It would have been nice to have a shutout, but if you’d have told me before the game that we would win, 4-3, I’d have taken that.”

Jesse Orosco got the last out in the eighth and Randy Myers got three outs for his 14th save.

Before the eighth, the only hit off Kamieniecki was a line single by Tony Clark in the fourth. Kamieniecki, signed as a free agent in January after spending an injury-plagued 1996 season with the New York Yankees, walked two and struck out four.

Minnesota 4, Milwaukee 3--Scott Stahoviak homered and the Twins put together three two-out rallies at Milwaukee to hand the Brewers their seventh consecutive loss.

Stahoviak homered for the second time in four games since coming off the disabled list. His two-run shot with two outs gave the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

After Milwaukee closed to 4-3 in the eighth, Rick Aguilera, the Twins’ fourth pitcher of the inning, came on and struck out three of the four batters he faced for his eighth save.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Lee Stevens

Team: Texas

Performance: 2 for 4, 2 RBIs, home run

Team’s Result: Win

Player: Harold Baines

Team: Chicago

Performance: 2 for 4, 3 RBIs, double

Team’s Result: Win

Player: Roberto Alomar