AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : This Yankee Victory Is Short but Sweet

The New York Yankees had a pretty good “closer” going for them against the Baltimore Orioles--a rainstorm.

A soaked field produced sloppy results, but a 6-5 New York victory over the Orioles in a rain-shortened, six-inning game at Baltimore kept the Yankees within a game of the Seattle Mariners in the wild-card race.

Mike Stanley’s two-run double keyed a five-run fifth inning that led to an early exit by Mike Mussina (16-9). Bernie Williams went three for three, including a solo home run that gave the Yankees their eventual winning run. He has reached base eight consecutive times.

“We certainly got a lot of tough breaks, weather-wise, this year,” Yankee Manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s about time we got one in our favor. Maybe the tide is changing a little bit.”

Jack McDowell (15-10) pitched five innings, giving up nine hits and five runs to earn his fourth consecutive victory before leaving in the sixth inning because of a strained muscle in his upper back.

Trailing 6-5 in the sixth, the Orioles had an opportunity to take the lead, but reliever Bob Wickman struck out Bobby Bonilla with the bases loaded and two out to preserve the win.

Seattle 5, Chicago 3--Dan Wilson hit a go-ahead, solo home run in the top of the ninth inning off reliever Matt Karchner (3-2) at Chicago to keep the Mariners one-game ahead in the wild-card race.

Vince Coleman, who followed his four-hit game Friday night with three more hits, then singled, stole second, reached third when Craig Grebeck dropped a throw on an attempted steal and raced home when the ball got behind third.

Texas 7, Detroit 3--The Rangers got 17 hits, including three apiece by Will Clark, Juan Gonzalez and Otis Nixon, at Detroit and Kenny Rogers gained his 14th victory as Texas remained two games behind Seattle in the wild-card race.

Rogers (14-7) gave up six hits, struck out nine and walked none in eight-plus innings in the Rangers’ sixth victory in seven games.

Gonzalez led off the fifth inning against reliever Joe Boever with his 25th homer and the Rangers touched Boever for three more runs in the sixth on run-scoring singles by Clark, Mickey Tettleton and Ivan Rodriguez.

Cleveland 6, Boston 5--Jose Mesa set a team record at Cleveland with his 44th save as the Indians handed Roger Clemens (8-5) his first loss in eight starts.

Boston’s magic number for clinching the American League East title remained at four.

Jim Thome homered and Eddie Murray matched his season high with four hits for the Indians.

Mesa worked a scoreless ninth for his 44th save in 46 chances, surpassing Doug Jones’ team record of 43 set in 1990. Mark Clark (9-6) got the victory.

Toronto 5, Milwaukee 4--Lance Parrish singled over the Brewers’ drawn-in outfield in the 11th inning at Toronto and the Blue Jays ended a seven-game losing streak.

Oakland 6, Minnesota 1--Mark McGwire hit a three-run homer and John Wasdin won his first major league start as the Athletics beat the Twins at Oakland. Brad Radke (10-13) took the loss.