Baseball

AL: Fans stay in seats in Chisox win

CHICAGO -- Finally, a Royals-White Sox game without any trouble.

Frank Thomas foiled a shift with a sacrifice fly in the ninth, and fans were too busy trying to keep warm to make mischief Wednesday night as Chicago beat Kansas City 4-3.

"It was nice to play a baseball game in Chicago without a fan running on the field," Mike Sweeney said. "Tonight was the way baseball should be played."

The past two times the Royals played in Chicago, a fan ran on the field and attacked someone near first base. Royals coach Tom Gamboa was pummeled in September, and umpire Laz Diaz was attacked Tuesday night.

But Wednesday baseball was back to being the focus at U.S. Cellular Field.

"I had no question we would play and that security would do a good job," Royals manager Tony Pena said. "I didn't even worry about that."

Some of his players did, though.

"I heard the fans starting to get excited, and the first thing I did was look to see if a fan was on the field," Sweeney said. "It shouldn't have to be like that."

Diaz wasn't hurt in Tuesday night's assault and was behind home plate Wednesday. There was a noticeable increase in security, with 16 guards ringing the field during the half-inning breaks. Guards also stood near both dugouts, and others roamed the stands.

Announcements warning fans to stay off the field were made throughout the game, and White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko made a plea before the game asking fans to behave. Baseball officials also were on hand to make sure there were no problems.

But with a gametime temperature of 50, 34 degrees colder than Tuesday night, and a blustery wind making it feel even chillier, there were only about 7,000 fans at the park.

"You come to a game and you want to have fun and you want the fans to have fun," said Tom Gordon, who pitched two innings for his first victory with the White Sox.

"I think that's what happened tonight. It was a good night for fans, a good night for us. I think everybody had fun."

ANGELS 9, RANGERS 8: Bengie Molina hit the go-ahead two-run single in a strange seven-run eighth that lifted visiting Anaheim.

The Angels sent 12 batters to the plate and scored four unearned runs in their rally. They benefited from a disputed play in which Tim Salmon slid into the infield grass to avoid a tag and a two-out error that allowed the tying run to score.

Darin Erstad and Salmon had consecutive run-scoring singles in the eighth, making it 6-4 before Garret Anderson hit what the Rangers thought was an inning-ending double-play grounder.

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez fielded the ball on the first-base side of second and made a charge at Salmon, who slid down. Rodriguez then threw to first thinking he had completed a double play. Instead, umpire Jerry Layne ruled against the arguments of Rodriguez and manager Buck Showalter that Salmon had left the baseline.

BLUE JAYS 7, YANKEES 6: Carlos Delgado hit a three-run homer and Dave Berg's run-scoring double broke a sixth-inning tie as visiting Toronto snapped a six-game losing streak.

Toronto starter Cory Lidle blew a 5-0 lead in the fifth, but the Blue Jays bounced back to beat New York for the first time in six meetings this season.

A'S 4, MARINERS 1: Tim Hudson outpitched Freddy Garcia for the second time, and visiting Oakland ended a six-game losing streak.

Eric Chavez gave Hudson all the offense he needed with a two-run home run in the first, his second homer in two nights and third of the season.

TWINS 4, TIGERS 2: Corey Koskie had three hits and two RBIs as host Minnesota beat Detroit for the 14th straight time. The Tigers hadn't lost that many consecutive games to one team in their 103-year history.

ORIOLES 4, INDIANS 3: Melvin Mora led off the ninth with his first home run of the season to give visiting Baltimore a comeback win.

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