John Jaha was probably the only person in the park who didn't see his monster home run.
"I just hit it nice and easy and I didn't watch it," the Milwaukee first baseman said of his 458-foot blast that almost left County Stadium. "I realized I hit it pretty far, so I just put my head down and started trotting."While Jaha circled the bases, others watched the ball fall about 15 feet short of the fence that circles the bleachers.
"Without a doubt that's the longest home run I've ever seen here," Milwaukee manager Phil Garner said of the seventh-inning blast off Todd Van Poppel that highlighted the Brewers' 16-3 rout of the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night.
"I want to take a tape measure out there because I bet that ball landed more like 478 feet," Garner said. "That was a bomb. Off the bat, I thought it was out of the stadium."
The only player ever to hit a ball out of the current configuration of County Stadium is Cecil Fielder, who did it in 1991.
As far as Oakland was were concerned, just about everything the Brewers hit appeared to be out of the stadium.
"We had lousy pitching," Athletics manager Art Howe said. "We played a lousy game tonight, period. We got killed."
Pat Listach drove in three runs and Matt Mieske went 3-for-3 with a triple, a homer and two walks as the Brewers roughed up Oakland starter Steve Wojciechowski (5-4) for nine runs, six earned, on nine hits and a balk in 42/3 innings. It got worse against Oakland's bullpen.
Jaha's second homer of the night traveled only 394 feet.
Milwaukee's Jose Valentin made a sensational play at short that prevented Oakland from having a big third inning. With a run in, the bases full and nobody out, Rafael Bournigal blooped a ball over third baseman Jeff Cirillo's head, freezing Jason Giambi at second and Damon Mashore at third. The ball bounced in front of Valentin, who threw home to get Mashore, then covered third to take the return throw and get Giambi.
"None of us will ever see that play again as long as we live," said Valentin, who put the tag on Giambi even though it was a forceout.
Angels 6, Blue Jays 4
Damion Easley, Garret Anderson and Tim Salmon homered to give California its fifth straight victory.
Chuck Finley (8-4) got the win, allowing visiting Toronto four runs and six hits in six innings.
Rich Monteleone, who returned to the Angels on Wednesday in a trade that sent Mike Aldrete to the New York Yankees, pitched two scoreless innings and Mike James got the last three outs for his first save.
Red Sox 8, Rangers 7
Alex Delgado singled home the winning run in the 10th inning with his second major league hit, capping the fifth Boston comeback in the game.
Visiting Texas blew leads of 1-0, 2-1, 4-3, 6-4 in the ninth and 7-6 in the top of the 10th.
Heathcliff Slocumb (2-5) got the win despite allowing the go-ahead run to score in the top of the 10th on a bases-loaded RBI grounder by Ivan Rodriguez.
Royals 10, Orioles 2
Craig Paquette had four RBIs to back the three-hit pitching of Doug Linton and relievers Tim Pugh and Mike Magnante.
Cal Ripken tied the world record set by Japanese player Sachio Kinugasa by playing in his 2,215th consecutive game. Kinugasa was in the crowd at Kauffman Stadium. (See accompanying story.)
Linton gave up Brady Anderson's solo home run, but retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced before being replaced with two outs in the seventh.
Indians 6, Yankees 2
Orel Hershiser and two relievers combined on a five-hitter and Eddie Murray drove in three runs to lead Cleveland at New York.
Hershiser (6-4) allowed one run on four hits, struck out five and walked one in 71/3 innings.
Murray hit his seventh homer of the season after Yankees starter Kenny Rogers (4-3) walked Manny Ramirez to lead off the seventh. Murray drove in another run in the eighth with a bases-loaded single off reliever Jeff Nelson.