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SAN FRANCISCO - Indians pitchers Brian Anderson and Carl Sadler turned into crime fighters over the weekend, chasing down a youth who attempted to steal a purse from a woman in a restaurant across from their team's hotel.
The pitchers then took the thief back to the restaurant, returned the purse and held him there until police arrived.
"It was an instinctive thing," Anderson said before Sunday's game against Oakland. "They picked the wrong restaurant with a couple of athletes who are on a losing streak."
The Indians entered Sunday with five losses in a row.
Sadler, Anderson and two friends arrived at the restaurant shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday and within 10 minutes noticed a youth grabbing a purse and running out of the restaurant. Anderson and Sadler gave chase.
"My adrenaline was pumping," Sadler said. "I couldn't believe how fast we were running. We were running in between cars and oncoming traffic."
They caught up with the thief within two blocks.
"I saw the guy slip, and he dropped the purse and I grabbed his shirt and pinned him down," Sadler said. "It was a weird experience. Once I had him, he know he wasn't going anywhere."
Then they waited for police.
"We held the guy for about 20 minutes," Anderson said. "We had him pinned into a corner so he couldn't run again. About four or five cop cars pull up and took up half the street. I had visions of (Cleveland manager Eric Wedge) coming out and see us surrounded by all these cops. We would have been out of here before morning."
BLUE JAYS: To show that Toronto is safe despite the SARS outbreak, the team's parent company is offering $1 tickets for Tuesday's game.
RANGERS: Left-hander Doug Davis was designated for assignment a day after he gave up four runs and four hits in his only start this season. Texas purchased the contract of left-hander Erasmo Ramirez from Double-A Frisco.
YANKEES: First baseman Jason Giambi was out of the starting lineup for the second time in four games to rest a bruised knee.