Baines Beats Yankees With Two-Run Homer

John Wetteland threw the right pitch to Harold Baines at the wrong time.

Baines hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Chicago White Sox a 7-5 victory over the New York Yankees at Chicago.

“It was the right pitch, but it didn’t work,” Wetteland said. “It was a fastball. You have to get ahead of hitters and that’s a high-percentage pitch and percentages also say there’s not a lot of home runs on the first pitch. I won’t second-guess that pitch.”

Dave Martinez opened the ninth with a single off Wetteland. Baines then hit Wetteland’s first pitch into the left-field bleachers.

“It was a fastball away. It was a line drive to where I usually hit balls,” Baines said of his seventh homer.

Gerald Williams homered for the Yankees, who dropped their third consecutive game.

Toronto 9, Boston 8--Sandy Martinez’s two-out, run-scoring single in the 11th inning gave the Blue Jays a come-from-behind victory over the Red Sox at Toronto.

After Juan Samuel drew a two-out walk and then stole second, Martinez lined a pitch to the wall in right-center to score the winning run. Paul Quantrill didn’t yield a hit in one inning of relief to pick up his second consecutive victory.

The Red Sox had taken an 8-7 lead in the eighth on Jose Canseco’s fourth homer before Alex Gonzalez tied it for the Blue Jays with his fifth homer, in the bottom of the inning.

Baltimore 5, Milwaukee 3--Cal Ripken ended a three-for-31 slump with a run-scoring single in the 10th inning to lead the Orioles at Milwaukee.

After Roberto Alomar and Rafael Palmeiro walked, Ripken singled against Mike Potts and B.J. Surhoff added a sacrifice fly. Randy Myers pitched the final inning for his eighth save as Arthur Rhodes picked up the victory with 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief.

Oakland 12, Minnesota 5--Terry Steinbach had a three-run home run and a run-scoring double, and Phil Plantier had three RBI singles for the Athletics at Oakland.

Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire, and Plantier--the third through fifth hitters in Oakland’s lineup--had three hits each. McGwire doubled twice and drove in a run, and Giambi raised his average to .353 with two singles and a double.

Steinbach, who doubled in a run as the A’s scored three runs in the fourth, hit his seventh homer as Oakland added four in the fifth. Brent Gates had an RBI double in the sixth and Geronimo Berroa added a two-run homer in the seventh.

Texas 11, Detroit 7--Rusty Greer hit a grand slam in the first inning and had a career-best five runs batted in as the Rangers beat the Tigers at Arlington, Texas.

Kevin Gross benefited from eight runs in the first two innings as the Rangers won for the seventh time in eight games while sending the Tigers to their 20th loss in 23 games.

Seattle 11, Kansas City 1--Jay Buhner hit two home runs and drove in a career-best six runs as the Mariners broke the Royals’ six-game winning streak with a win at the Kingdome.

Paul Sorrento and Alex Rodriguez also homered for the Mariners, giving them a major-league high 63 in 36 games. Buhner hit his ninth and 10th homers, Sorrento his 10th and Rodriguez his fourth.

In addition to their four homers, the Mariners matched a club record with eight doubles.