Whitehurst Starts Fast For Yankees

Wally Whitehurst won in his first major league start since 1994, and Paul O’Neill hit a three-run double Saturday as the Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics, 5-4, at New York.

Whitehurst (1-0) threw 22 first-pitch strikes to 27 hitters he faced after being promoted Friday from triple-A Columbus. He was acquired in a minor league trade earlier this season from Montreal.

“That was my game plan all along, throw first-pitch strikes,” said Whitehurst (1-0), who limited Oakland to seven hits in seven innings. “I don’t have the stuff to pitch from behind in the count.”

Whitehurst pitched with the New York Mets and San Diego for parts of six seasons with a 19-36 record, and last started two years ago for the Padres.

“It’s a thrill for me to be back [in New York] where I started. It looks very familiar. It’s like 1988 with the Mets, looking around at the guys in the clubhouse,” said Whitehurst, who joined former Mets David Cone, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry on the Yankees.

Milwaukee 4, Cleveland 3--Kevin Seitzer singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Brewers their second consecutive victory over the Indians at Cleveland.

“Cleveland is still the team to beat, but they are not invincible like they were last year,” Milwaukee Manager Phil Garner said. “The only way to beat them last year was to score 10 runs early and nullify their bullpen. And then you had to hang on because they would score a ton of runs.”

Bob Wickman (5-1) won despite giving up the game-tying single to Albert Belle in the eighth. It was Wickman’s first appearance since being acquired Friday from the New York Yankees. Mike Fetters pitched the 10th for his 25th save.

Boston 9, Seattle 5--Darren Bragg’s grand slam was the first home run by a left-handed batter against the Mariners’ Randy Johnson since 1992 and helped lead the Red Sox at Boston.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Bragg said of his grand slam in the sixth inning, which was his first in the major leagues and gave Boston a 9-4 lead. “I wanted to try and get the insurance run in. I was fortunate to get the good part of the bat on the pitch and it carried out.”

Boston’s Mo Vaughn was the last left-handed batter to homer off Johnson. The Red Sox have won 18 of 24 and the Mariners have lost four of six.

Toronto 9, Chicago 2--Jacob Brumfield and Alex Gonzalez each drove in three runs at Chicago as the Blue Jays won their seventh consecutive game.

All of their victories have come during their 10-game road trip, which ends today. The White Sox lost their fifth in a row and dropped behind Baltimore in the AL wild-card race.

“If we play good, we’ll win, if not, we’ll pack our stuff and go home. That’s just the way it is,” Chicago Manager Terry Bevington said. “We got outhit, outpitched and, obviously, outscored.”

Minnesota 6, Texas 5--Frank Rodriguez became the Twins’ first 12-game winner in three years, and Marty Cordova and Matt Lawton hit solo homers at Minneapolis.

Rodriguez (12-10) gave up six hits in seven innings to become the winningest Twin pitcher since Kevin Tapani went 12-15 in 1993.

Kansas City 9, Detroit 2--Rookie Jose Rosado came within one out of his third complete game in 10 starts this season as the Royals ended a six-game losing streak with the victory at Kansas City, Mo.

Michael Tucker homered and drove in three runs as the Royals ended Detroit’s four-game winning streak, its second-longest of the year.

Rosado (5-3), a 21-year-old left-hander who started the season in double-A, gave up seven hits in 8 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked three.