American League Roundup : Bell Hits 3 Homers, an Opening Day First

George Bell is hitting home runs again, but he’s still angry.

“I’ve got too many things on my mind to be happy,” Bell said Monday after becoming the first player ever to hit three home runs on opening day as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3, at Kansas City.

“A lot of people have been hounding me, but it doesn’t bother me because I just have to go out and play my game,” Bell said.

Bell, bitter throughout spring training with his move to designated hitter, homered three times off Bret Saberhagen. Bell hit the first pitch he saw this season into the left-field bleachers in the second, hit a two-run homer in the fourth and added a solo home run in the eighth for the first three-home run game of his career.

“I had better luck than he had today,” Bell said of Saberhagen. “I think it’s a great honor and I am really happy.

“A lot of people have been hard on me, but for the past five years, all I’ve done is go out to the park and do my job.”

Bell, who hit 47 home runs last season and was the American League’s most valuable player, was suspended for a day and fined in spring training for refusing to be the designated hitter. He reached a temporary truce with the team shortly before opening day and agreed to try the move.

Detroit 5, Boston 3--Alan Trammell hit a two-run home run off Boston reliever Lee Smith with two outs in the 10th inning as the Tigers beat the Red Sox at Boston.

Jack Morris, 7-2 on opening days, got the victory with help from Mike Henneman, who pitched the final inning for a save. Morris gave up nine hits, struck out nine and walked one.

Roger Clemens, making his first opening day start, struck out 11 and gave up 6 hits, including Matt Nokes’ solo home run.

Milwaukee 12, Baltimore 0--Teddy Higuera gave up three hits over seven innings and Dale Sveum hit a two-run home run to highlight a 16-hit barrage as the Brewers handed the Orioles their worst opening day loss ever at Baltimore.

A crowd of 52,395, the largest regular-season crowd in Baltimore history, watched Milwaukee win its opener for the third straight season. Last year, the Brewers won their first 13 games and tied the major league record for consecutive victories at the start of a season.

Higuera allowed only one runner past first base. Mike Boddicker took the loss.

Texas 4, Cleveland 3--Pete O’Brien hit his second home run of the game on a 3-2 count in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Rangers came from behind to beat the Indians before an opening-night crowd of 37,613 at Arlington, Texas.

O’Brien, who hit a second-inning home run, also on a 3-2 pitch, slammed an opposite-field drive over the 380-foot sign in left field to start the inning off reliever Chris Codiroli. The game-winning homer enabled Charlie Hough to beat Cleveland for the 13th consecutive time, with ninth-inning help from Mitch Williams.

Hough is 16-4 lifetime against the Indians and hasn’t lost to them since April 3, 1984. The veteran knuckleballer allowed five hits, including home runs by Willie Upshaw, Julio Franco and Cory Snyder.

Oakland 4, Seattle 1--Dave Stewart allowed two hits over 8 innings and Dave Henderson drove in two runs as the Athletics beat the Mariners at Oakland.

Stewart, a 20-game winner last season, gave up a single to Mike Kingery on the first pitch of the game and yielded Mickey Brantley’s one-out single in the ninth. Before Brantley’s hit, Stewart had retired 18 straight Mariner hitters. He walked four and struck out three.

Rick Honeycutt relieved Stewart after Alvin Davis walked. He retired one batter before Dennis Eckersley finished for the save. Mark Langston surrendered four runs and nine hits in 7 innings and took the loss. The defending American League strikeout champion struck out 10 A’s while walking two.