01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 26, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

TORONTO -- The Red Sox lost the services of first baseman and backup catcher Doug Mientkiewicz in the bottom of the fourth inning last night.

Mientkiewicz suffered a strained left shoulder in an unsuccessful attempt to stretch a third-inning hit into a double. Sliding head-first and reaching out with his left arm for the bag, Mientkiewicz was gunned down by Jays right fielder Alex Rios.

Mientkiewicz stayed in the game. He even made a leaping grab of a liner in the third. But after whiffing in the fourth, he was replaced by Kevin Millar, who began the game on the bench.

With catcher Jason Varitek still out serving his suspension, manager Terry Francona had listed Mientkiewicz as the backup catcher behind Doug Mirabelli. Varitek has only tonight's game left to serve. The Sox will have to decide if they want to cross their fingers and hope Mirabelli doesn't get hurt or call up a backup catcher such as Pawticket's Andy Dominique.

After the game, neither Francona nor Mientkiewicz thought the injury was too serious, but it will be evaluated further today. Mientkiewicz said he could raise his arm, but it hurt to reach across his body.

Francona said outfielder Gabe Kapler was placed on "red alert" to go in to catch had anything happened to Mirabelli, but that didn't happen.

Arroyo is a plunk away

Bronson Arroyo can take the American League lead in one pitching category when he starts tonight against Detroit in the opener of a four-game series.

Not that it's a league lead he'll covet. If he plunks one Tiger, he'll be tops in hit-batsmen. Arroyo will enter the game with 16, tying him with Victor Zambrano, who was traded to the National League Mets by Tampa Bay last month.

"It's just one of those things," said Arroyo yesterday. "I don't usually hit a lot of guys, but there have been some pitches that just grazed guys, and some others were breaking balls that got away."

Arroyo had hit nine batters in 204 1/3 big-league innings before this season. This year, he has nailed 16 in 134 1/3 innings.

Of course, the most meaningful and publicized HBP was the Arroyo pitch that drilled Alex Rodriquez on the left elbow at Fenway Park on July 24, an incident that led to a full-scale brawl.

That melee led to four-game suspensions for the principals, Boston catcher Jason Varitek and A-Rod. Rodriguez already sat out his suspension.

"I don't know if it's true, but I heard a quote from A-Rod, saying 'This rookie Arroyo cost his catcher (Varitek) four games and cost me four games,' " said Arroyo, who still insists he wasn't throwing at A-Rod. "I didn't cost him four games. His mouth cost him four games."

Appeals put on hold

Kapler's appeal of his suspension, as well as those of Trot Nixon and Curt Schilling, have been postponed from today at Fenway until Sept. 2.

Kapler was assessed a three-game suspension for his part in the July 24 brawl with the Yankees at Fenway. Nixon was given two and Schilling is appealing his pocket-change fine of $500.

By the time Major League Baseball rules on the appeals, the rosters already will have been expanded on Sept. 1. So if Kapler does have to serve a suspension, the Red Sox won't have to play short-handed, as they have been since Varitek started serving his four-game suspension.

Power surge in Toronto

The power-packed duo of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz was at it again last night.

They clubbed back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, with Ramirez launching a two-run blast to dead center and Ortiz following with a high floater down the right-field line.

It was the ninth time the Red Sox have crunched consecutive homers, and the fifth time that Ramirez and Ortiz had gone back-to-back. It also was the third time in 10 games that they had accomplished the feat.

Over the last season-plus, they have homered in the same game 19 times. The Red Sox are 18-1 in those games.

The homer for Ramirez was the 381st of his career, moving him into a tie with Albert Belle for 49th on the all-time list. Ramirez is one behind Jim Rice and Frank Howard.

Orlando Cabrera joined the home-run parade in the fourth. His homer marked the 44th time in team history that the Red Sox had hit at least three home runs in an inning, and the third time this year.

Ortiz later clubbed a two-run homer, boasting his season total to 33, establishing a career-high. It was his third two-homer game of the season and the 11th of his career.

Moving on up

Schilling earned his 16th win of the year, only one behind league-leader Mark Mulder of Oakland. Schilling lowered his earned-run average to 3.38, which moved him up a notch to fourth in the A.L. . . . The right-hander fanned Gregg Zaun, the last batter he faced in his 6 1/3-inning outing. It was his ninth strikeout of the game and the 2,700th of his career, making him the 18th pitcher in big-league history to reach that level.

"That was the best fastball I've had in a while," said Schilling.

Around the bases

Kevin Youkilis (ankle) will return to Boston from Fort Myers, Fla., in time to be at the ballpark to be checked out at 3:30 along with Pokey Reese (oblique muscle) and Ellis Burks (left knee). . . . Francona said the organization has had discussions about who might be added to the rosters when they can be expanded on Sept. 1, but that nothing definite has been decided, pending the health status of Boston's DL inhabitants Youkilis, Reese, Burks, David McCarty and Nixon. . . . Dave Roberts, starting for the second straight night, beat out a bunt single on an 0-and-2 pitch in the first, but in the fourth, for the second time in as many games, he fouled out to the catcher on another bunt try. . . . Mark Bellhorn notched his 100th hit of the season, a crisp double to right-center in the fourth. It marked the second time in his career he has reached the century mark in hits. He had 115 for the Cubs in 2002.