Section B·Page 3
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, April 6,1998
Opening Day 99
Royals lose home opener
Red Sox prevail 5-3 to a sellout crowd wind and rain delay
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Boston Red Sox did just fine in their first game without Mo Vaughn.
Jose Offerman, signed from Kansas City to replace Vaughn's bat, went 4-for-5 and John Valentin homered yesterday to lead the Red Sox against the Kansas City Royals 5-3 on opening day.
Pedro Martinez struck out nine in six innings as Boston won its opener for the sixth time in seven years.
After a 28-minute rain delay, the Royals took a 2-0 lead in the first against Martinez, who won 19 games last year and finished second in AL Cy Young voting.
But Boston came back in the third against Kevin Appier, who made only three starts last season while recovering from shoulder surgery.
Offerman, who spent three seasons with the Royals, was signed by Boston after Vaughn went to Anaheim for an $80 million, six-year contract. He doubled in the first, singled in the third and scored on Valentin's homer, a 410-foot shot to center.
Offerman, booed each time he was announced, singled again in the seventh, then tripped off Scott Service in the ninth and scored on Valentin's double.
Valentin was 2-for-5 with three RBIs for Boston, which won the AL wild card last year but lost to Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.
A sellout crowd of 40,257 was at Kauffman Stadium on a windy afternoon that turned sunny.
the Royals, whose 22-9 record was baseball's best during spring training, went ahead quickly. After a home run by Joe Randa, one of four newcomers in Kansas City's infield, Johnny Damon singled, stole second and made it 2-0 on Larry Sutton's double.
Mike Stanley and Scott Hatteberg had RBI singles in the sixth for Boston. The Royals, with the help of Valentin's fielding error at third, scored an unearned run off Derek Lowe in the seventh.
Appier, a 31-year-old right-hander, was tagged for four runs and eight hits in 5-1 3 innings, walked three and fanned only one, which would have been uncharacteristic before surgery, when he was a hard thrower.
Martinez gave up two runs and all six of Kansas City's hits. Lowe followed with two innings and Tom Gordon finished for the save. He has converted a record 44 straight save chances since last April 13, but blew one against Cleveland in the playoffs.
Notes: Former Royals star George Brett, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, threw out the first pitch and was given a standing ovation. Two huge action pictures of Brett have been hung on the wall in the visiting team bullpen facing the stands with a "Cooperstown Countdown" ticking off the days until the ceremony. ... Boston left fielder Troy O'Leary saved a run with a fine running catch of Jermaine Dye's two-out drive in the first ... The crowd was the fifth largest for opening day in Royals history.
ab r b hi ab r b hi
Offrnm dh 52 40  Beltran cf 40 111
Lewis cf 5000 Randa b 3111
Vientin 3b 5123 Damon f 4110
Grcrp ss 4110 King 1b 3000
Oleary lf 4120 Sutton dh 4011
Stanley lb 3021 Dye rf 4010
Htberg c 2011 Kreuter c 3100
Frye 2b 4010 Sanchez ss 4010
NixonRF 4000 Febles 2b 2000
Totals 36 15 3 Totals 32 3 63
Dodgers slide by Arizona in season debut
Million-dollar Brown has unprofitable game in Dodgers' premiere
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Baseball's first $10 million man wasn't worth it in his Los Angeles Dodgers' debut.
Raul Mondesi, fortunately, was right on the money and bailed out Kevin Brown, who flopped in his marquee matchup with Randy Johnson.
Mondesi tied the game with a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth, then hit a two-run homer in the 11th to give him six RBIs as the Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-6 in yesterday's season opener.
He appeared headed to a loss until Mondesi got a home run off Gregg Olson on a 3-0 pitch in the ninth following leadoff singles by Jose Vizcaino and Dave Hansen against
Brown allowed five runs and 10 hits in 5-2-3 innings, giving up a pair of solo homers to Bernard Gilkey and a three-run shot to Jay Bell that put Arizona ahead 5-2 in the sixth.
Armando Reynoso.
Mondesi got a home run again two innings left off John Frascatore after a two-out walk to Gary Sheffield.
Randy Johnson, making his Diamondbacks' debut and his seventh opening-day start, left for a pinch hitter in the eighth after allowing just five hits and two runs in seven innings. He walked six and struck out nine.
While Brown flopped in his Dodgers debut, Davey Johnson came out a winner in his first game as the Los Angeles manager.
Brown, who threw 111 pitches, struck out seven and walked two. He was booed by many in the sellout crowd of 53,109 at Dodger Stadium as he left the field.
With $157.4 million in pitchers on the mound — based on 34 starts a season, Brown earned about $441,000 for the game and Johnson $385,000 — the game had been sold out for weeks.
Mondesi hit a two-out RBI single off Johnson in the first, and former Diamondback Devon White homered off Johnson in the fourth.
Last year, while helping San Diego win the NL pennant, Brown allowed just eight home runs in 257 innings and had the best home-run ratio in the league.
gained it had been much anticipated since Johnson signed a $52.4 million, four-year contract with the Diamondbacks
on Nov. 30, and Brown signed a $105 million, seven-year deal with the Dodgers 12 days later.
They opposed each other last fall in the opener of the NI duction.
series, with Brown striking out 16 as the Padres beat Houston 2-1.
He wasn't the same pitcher against the Diamondbacks.
Gilkey, who also singled in the second, is 8-for-15 against Brown with four homers.
Jeff Shaw, who retired all six batters he faced, earned the victory.
Arizona got its sixth run off Pedro Borbon on an RBI single by Matt Williams after Brown left in the sixth. Eric Karros hit an RBI single in the eighth off Darren Holmes to draw the Dodgers within three runs.
Notes: In honor of his 50th season as play-by-play voice of the Dodgers, Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.
The Dodgers have drawn more than 50,000 in seven straight home openers and in 13 of their 38 openers at Dodger Stadium since 1962.
The Dodgers have a 21-17 record in Dodger Stadium home openers, including last year's 9-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.
Brown and Johnson faced each other for the fourth time in a regular-season game. They last met on Aug. 21, 1995, at Seattle, with neither player involved in the decision. Brown was pitching for Baltimore at that time. He pitched for Texas in their first two meetings while Johnson pitched for Seattle.
Both teams had exceptional springs — the Dodgers went 21-9 while the Diamondbacks were 22-10. Brown entered the game having never allowed a home run in 20 previous innings at Dodger Stadium.
Playing in his first game for the Dodgers, Todd Hundley struck out four times before singling in the 10th.
Giants' player fouls up, then saves the day
The Associated Press
CINCINNATI — Charlie Hayes didn’t figure to play much in San Francisco’s opener. Needed because of a first-inning injury, he wound up winning the game with a home run.
Hayes, who took over at third base when Bill Mueller was hurt, committed an error that helped Cincinnati rally, then hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning that provided the final turning point in a wild 11-8 victory Monday.
The Reds overcame a four-run deficit with home runs by Mike Cameron, Mark Sweeney and Sean Casey, pulling ahead 8-6 with six-run sixth inning. Haves 'error fueled the comeback.
The Giants quieted the crowd of 55,112 — the seventh-largest regular-season crowd in stadium history — with a pair of homers that pulled it out.
Ellis Burks hit a two-run homer into the second deck in center field to tie it in the seventh offoser John Hudek. After a pair of walks opened the eighth, Hayes homered into the second deck in left field off Gabe White.
Alan Embree got the win with one perfect inning, and Robb Nen pitched the ninth for the save.
The Giants lost Mueller in the first inning when he was hit by a pitch from Brett Tomkio and broke his big left toe. There was no immediate indication how long he'll be out.
Tonko, who got the opening day start because Denny Neagle and Pete Harnisch have been slowed by injury, gave up eight hits and six runs in only three and two-thirds innings.
Mark Gardner, who lost the Giants' one-game playoff against Chicago for the NL wild-card berth last season, wasn't much better than Tomko. Gardner gave up nine hits and five runs in five and one-thirds innings, including Cameron's two-run homer in the second and Sweeney's pinch-hit, three-run homer in the sixth that cut it to 6-5.
Julian Tavarez came on and gave up Casey's homer, which completed the Reds' sixth and put them ahead 8-6. Casey also had a single and a double.
Jeff Kent, J.T. Snow and Burks each drove in a pair of runs in San Francisco's 15-hit attack.
While the Giants' pitching staff struggled, their offense picked up where it left off last season Cwhen it scored the second-most runs in franchise history and was third in the NL with a .274 average.
Barry Bonds, a three-time MVP in the 1990s who is often pitched around, set a National League record when he drew the 290th intentional walk of his career in the fourth inning.
Bonds moved one ahead of Hank Aaron, who still holds the major league record of 293 career intentional walks.
Tigers pounce defending division champions as pitcher attempts no-hitter
The Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas — Brian Moehler and the Detroit Tigers looked like defending division champions, not the Texas Rangers.
Juan Encarnación homered on the game's first pitch and Moehler took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning yesterday as the Tigers beat Texas 11-5.
Moehler, trying to join Bob Feller as the only pitchers to throw no-hitters on opening day, had his try broken up when Juan Gonzalez singled with one out in the seventh inning.
By then, the Tigers already led the AL West champions 11-0. Bobby Higginson and Damion Easley both hit three-run homers in the third inning.
moehler (1-0) shout out Texas until Gonzalez lined a single to center and Rangers new
comer Rafael Palmeiro followed with an RBI double.
It was a miserable day all around for the Rangers and their ace, Rick Helling (0-1). Their offense stalled until the last few innings, after bad pitching and bad defense put them in a big hole.
Every Detroit hitter had a hit and an RBI by the sixth inning and its fielding was rarely tested, mostly because Moehler was mowing down batters.
Moehler, who didn't win on the road until June 30 last year, appeared to have no-hit stuff as he retired the side in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings.
His only other jam was the second, when he walked Gonzalez and Palmeiro to open the inning but got out of it by getting Ivan Rodriguez to ground into a double play and Lee Stevens to pop out.
Moehler, bidding for the earliest-ever no hitter on the calendar and just the second on opening day, gave up just two hits and one run in seven innings. He walked two and struck out six.
Helling, trying to prove his 20-7 record last year was no fluke, allowed four of the first five Tigers to reach base — and it got worse from there. He was shelled for seven runs, five earned in just three innings.
A double play and two caught stealings by Ivan Rodriguez helped Helling reach the fourth inning, but he was knocked out before getting an out. He allowed a single and a walk before Higginson's homer, then loaded the bases with a walk and two hit batsmen, both of whom had two strikes on them.
Helling put his arms over his face after hit ting Brad Ausmus and Brian Hunter.
Esteban Loiaza replaced Helling and got the inning's first out when Encarnacion flied out. But several bad decisions by Texas' defense led to another run
Stevens, playing first base because Palmeiro's right knee is healing from two operations, started it by cutting off Gonzalez's throw. He then threw to third baseman Todd Ziele, who
opted to start a rundown to get Ausmusi coming from second — a move that allowed Deivi Cruz to score from third.
But the Rangers didn't get Ausmus because Royce Clayton's return throw to Zeile bounced offAusmus' head for the sec
Masao Kida relieved Moehler to open the eighth and he, too, made a bit of history. Kida, who played 10 years in Japan, is the eighth Japanese player to play in the majors and the first born in Tokyo.
His debut was unimpressive, though, as he allowed an RBI groundout by Rusty Greer and a two-run single by Gonzalez.
Stevens homered in the ninth off Doug Brocail.
Orchard Corners
MIKE MORGAN, competing with Loiza for the fifth starter's job, took over late in the inning and made pro sports history in the process. The Rangers are his 11th team, breaking the major league record held by Bob L. Miller, Tommy Davis and Ken Brett. The NFL and NHL records are 10 and the NBA mark is nine.
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