AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : It’s a Gross Night for the Rangers

Last year’s free-agent prize, Will Clark, was booed, even after hitting a home run.

This year’s free-agent prize, Kevin Gross, was booed in his American League debut.

Forget in Texas? Forgive in Texas? Not yet.

“You never expect to get booed at home. You do at Yankee Stadium, but not here,” Clark said Thursday night after the Cleveland Indians beat the Rangers, 11-6, before the smallest home-opening crowd in Arlington, Tex., in a decade.

Paul Sorrento, Albert Belle, Eddie Murray, Manny Ramirez and Carlos Baerga homered for Cleveland before 32,161 at the Ballpark in Arlington.

“People had things to get off their chests,” said Clark, booed as he rounded the bases after a 407-foot homer in the fourth inning. “I hope now that it happened we can get back to baseball. The fans who stayed late were great and had some encouraging words for us.”

Replacement umpire Darrel Mason caused a stir, ejecting Cleveland pitcher Dennis Cook in the eighth inning after Rusty Greer hit a ball down the left-field line for a two-run homer. Cook argued the ball was foul.

Gross had his own trouble with keeping the ball in the park. He was wishing he was back in the National League.

“I kept waiting for the pitcher to come up,” he said. “I don’t ever remember being hammered like that.”

Gross, signed for $6 million over two years after spending four seasons with the Dodgers, gave up nine runs--seven earned--and nine hits in two-plus innings.

Minnesota 7, Baltimore 4--The smallest opening-day crowd in Metrodome history, 26,425, saw some unusually sloppy fielding by Cal Ripken Jr. and a game-winning hit from an unfamiliar Twin, free-agent acquisition Matt Merullo, whose two-run double in the sixth inning put them ahead to stay.

Ripken, a two-time Gold Glove shortstop who set the record in 1990 for highest fielding percentage (.996), booted two routine ground balls to lead to two Minnesota runs.

Toronto 7, Oakland 1--The lowest attendance for a game ever at the SkyDome, 31,070, watched Ed Sprague drive in five runs--four with his first major league grand slam--and Pat Hentgen pitch a shutout into the ninth inning for the Blue Jays.

Hentgen was on a pitch count and he used only 102 of them to go 8 1/3 innings, giving up only four hits along the way in sending Ron Darling to his first loss in the SkyDome after three victories.

Milwaukee 9, Chicago 4--After opening in Milwaukee the day before, the two teams took their show to Chicago, where the only difference was the surroundings. The Brewers got five strong innings of pitching by Cal Eldred and six runs in the sixth inning in beating the White Sox for the second day in a row.

The crowd, 31,073, was the smallest at a Chicago home opener in 13 years. They got a chance to boo Jim Abbott’s White Sox debut. He allowed two runs and three hits, but walked four in 4 1/3 innings and was the losing pitcher.

Seattle 3, Detroit 0--Ken Griffey Jr. hit a three-run homer off the facade of the third deck in right field in the fifth inning and Randy Johnson combined with two other pitchers on a three-hitter for the Mariners, who played before 34,656, the smallest crowd for a home opener in Seattle since 1981.

Johnson gave up a double to Chad Curtis to open the game, but stranded him at second base and overpowered the Tigers from then on. Only one other batter reached second base against the three-time defending strikeout champion.