After Lickings, Belcher Is Ticking

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On-again, off-again Tim Belcher is back on.

The former Dodger, who lost five consecutive decisions earlier this season, notched his fourth victory in five decisions Thursday night with eight innings of four-hit ball in the Kansas City Royals’ 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Even Pirate Manager Gene Lamont tipped his cap to Belcher.

“I had him in 1993 with the White Sox,” he said. “Now he’s a high fastball guy, but he’s using both pitches and moving them around. It’s a credit to him.”

The Pirates got only two runners as far as second base until Aramis Ramirez, celebrating his 20th birthday, homered in the eighth.

“The most important thing to me is getting the first strike and the first out of an inning,” said Belcher (6-7), who had six strikeouts and one walk. “I’ve kept track of leadoff hitters and I have a 70% total of no runs when I got the leadoff hitter and a 30% total when I don’t.”

Jeff Conine and Larry Sutton each homered for the Royals as Belcher boosted his career record against Pittsburgh to 12-4.