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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- David Wells' long wait for a 20-win
season in nearly over.
The Toronto left-hander, who leads the majors in victories,
allowed three singles in five scoreless innings Wednesday night
before leaving with tightness in his shoulder. His teammates
supported him with four home runs in an 11-2 thumping of the
Anaheim Angels.
|  | | Brad Fullmer now has 28 home runs on the year for the Blue Jays. |
"Personal stats are when your career is over with. If it
happens, then I'll treasure it when I'm done. But right now, it's
the team that matters," Wells said. "It's not important at all.
"I've been telling these guys all year I could care less about
20. I just want to win. That's what we're here to do."
Anaheim's Tim Salmon found it hard to believe that Wells hadn't
accomplish the feat.
"That's surprising," Salmon said. "I would have thought he
would have done that already, but that isn't a knock. This could be
the year for him. He's got some great stuff and keeps his club in
the ballgame. So it's just inevitable, I guess."
Wells (19-6) improved to 14-2 following Blue Jays losses. But
the 15-year veteran was removed for precautionary reasons after 61
pitches and replaced by John Frascatore.
Wells first felt the discomfort three batters before coming out.
"I was going to try to come back to see if I could throw, but
it just tightened up a little bit," Wells said. "So the best
thing to do was get out of the game and get some treatment right
away."
"I went through this earlier, and I bounced back in a couple of
days after taking some anti-inflamatory medicine. So I don't see
any major concern at all."
Wells, who became a full-time starter in 1993 with Detroit, won
16 games in 1997, 18 the following year and 17 last season. He
could have been a 20-game winner already this season, but has won
only four times in 10 outings since starting the All-Star game.
"Winning 20 is not easy," said Toronto pitching coach Dave
Stewart, the last to have four consecutive 20-win seasons. "It
takes maturity, it takes skill and it takes luck -- being in the
right place at the right time. But for Boomer, the time is right."
The Blue Jays, who failed to homer on Tuesday for only the 24th
time this season, increased their major league-leading total to 221
with two by Brad Fullmer and one each by Tony Batista and Darrin
Fletcher. Fullmer drove in four runs with his third career
two-homer game.
Carlos Delgado drove in four runs to increase his RBI total to
124. Delgado, Fletcher, Mickey Morandini and Shannon Stewart each
had three of the Blue Jays' 19 hits, one shy of their season-high.
Mo Vaughn reached the 100-RBI mark for the sixth time in his
career and third straight year when he led off the seventh against
Frascatore with his 33rd homer. He is the second player in Angels
history with consecutive 100-RBI seasons, and the first since Wally
Joyner in 1986-87.
Dave Martinez had two hits to extend his hitting streak to a
career-best 20 games. Martinez has hit safely in all 20 games he
has played with Toronto since the Aug. 5 trade from Texas.
"It's been a lot of fun," said Martinez, playing for his
fourth team this season. "Jim Fregosi's got a lot of faith in me
and he's playing me every day, and that's really all I need. But
the main thing is that we're in contention for the wild card and
we're playing good baseball. Hopefully, we'll continue and make
this interesting."
The Blue Jays, who also hit 221 home runs in 1998, homered three
times in the first three innings against rookie Matt Wise (3-2). He
allowed six runs and 12 hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Wells was staked to a 4-0 lead before he threw his first pitch.
Stewart and Alex Gonzalez opened the game with singles and Fullmer
drove his 27th homer to right field with two outs. Two pitches
later, Batista hit his 37th home run.
Stewart singled in the second and scored on Delgado's groundout.
Fletcher hit his 17th homer in the third to make it 6-0.
Anaheim's Ron Gant hit a solo homer in the ninth off Kelvim
Escobar.
Game notes
Wells goes for his 20th win next Monday against Oakland as
he tries to join Jack Morris, Pat Hentgen and Roger Clemens as the
only Toronto 20-game winners. ... The Blue Jays are 15-1 in games
preceding a day off. ... The Angels have alternated wins and losses
in their last 13 games, three shy of the major league record. ...
Batista's RBI was his 100th, matching the career high he
established last season in 44 games with Arizona and 98 games with
Toronto.
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Baseball Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
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RECAPS
Kansas City 8
Minnesota 7
Chi. White Sox 8
Oakland 3
Tampa Bay 3
Boston 1
Baltimore 5
Detroit 1
Cleveland 5
Texas 3
Toronto 11
Anaheim 2
NY Yankees 5
Seattle 4
Chicago Cubs 5
San Diego 1
Atlanta 5
Cincinnati 2
St. Louis 4
Florida 2
Arizona 7
Montreal 0
San Francisco 2
Pittsburgh 0
NY Mets 1
Houston 0
Colorado 5
Philadelphia 4
Milwaukee 3
Los Angeles 2
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