Belle Argues Appeal, Dodges Thrown Bat

Two weeks ago, the Milwaukee pitchers were throwing at Albert Belle.

Now, the fans are taking aim too.

Friday night’s game between Cleveland and New York at Yankee Stadium was interrupted twice when objects were tossed in the direction of the controversial Indian left fielder.

Dwight Gooden won for the sixth time in seven decisions and Derek Jeter hit a two-run single three pitches after a souvenir bat was thrown toward Belle as New York beat the Indians, 4-3.

Earlier in the day, Belle completed his appeal of a five-game suspension, imposed by the American League for his forearm to the face of Brewers second baseman Fernando Vina. That night, Belle was hit twice by pitches.

A management source familiar with the appeal hearing said Belle’s suspension may be reduced to three games.

The conduct of the Yankee crowd prompted an announcement on the public address system that the game could be forfeited.

“I don’t know why they have chosen to react as viciously as they have. I don’t understand behavior like that,” Indian Manager Mike Hargrove said.

Jeter’s sixth-inning single came shortly after a small bat was tossed in Belle’s direction, causing a three-minute delay.

The Indians left the field briefly in the seventh inning after more objects, including baseballs, were thrown on the field. That delay lasted four minutes.

“That’s a dangerous situation,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “Any time anyone throws anything on the field you kind of hold your breath. You could hit somebody in the eye or something. It’s distracting and dangerous.”

Boston 4, Texas 3--Mo Vaughn’s 23rd homer of the season broke an eighth-inning tie and gave the Red Sox their fourth consecutive victory at Boston.

Mike Stanton (3-1) rebounded from a bad outing the previous night to finish the game with 1 1/3 perfect innings, and the Red Sox won their third consecutive one-run victory.

Texas, which leads the American League West, lost for the third time in four games.

Milwaukee 6, Oakland 2--Greg Vaughn’s three-run homer in the fourth inning led the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Ricky Bones (5-8), who gave up two earned runs in seven-plus innings, got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when Phil Plantier flied to the warning track in right field.

Detroit 5, Minnesota 4--Cecil Fielder and Tony Clark hit solo homers and the Tigers’ normally shaky bullpen turned in a strong performance at Minneapolis.

Detroit’s relief pitchers--part of a pitching staff with the worst earned-run average in baseball--had only seven saves in 17 opportunities entering the game.

But the trio of Richie Lewis, Mike Myers and Gregg Olson held Minnesota to two hits over the last four innings, escaping bases-loaded jams in both the sixth and seventh innings.

The victory was only the Tigers’ fourth in June, matching their total for all of May, when they went 4-23.

Chicago 4, Seattle 1--Frank Thomas homered and Wilson Alvarez won his sixth consecutive decision to lead the White Sox in Seattle.

The 30,163 fans at the Kingdome yelled their loudest, by far, at the announcement that the Seattle SuperSonics had beaten the Chicago Bulls in Game 5 of the NBA finals two miles uptown at Key Arena.

Alvarez (8-3) gave up five hits, striking out eight and walking four. He tied Luis Leal for the most major league victories by a native Venezuelan with 51.

Roberto Hernandez pitched the ninth inning for his 20th save.