Yankees’ Pettitte Joins 20-Win Club

Andy Pettitte became the American League’s first 20-game winner in three seasons, and the Yankees’ first in 11 years, as he pitched New York to a 10-3 victory Wednesday night over the Oakland Athletics at Oakland.

Pettitte (20-7), who struck out six of the first seven batters he faced, gave up three runs and seven hits, struck out seven and walked one in seven innings.

The previous 20-game winner in the AL was Jack McDowell, who was 22-10 for the Chicago White Sox in 1993, before two strike-shortened seasons.

The last Yankee to reach 20 wins was Ron Guidry, who went 22-6 in 1985.

Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the eighth, and Dave Pavlas worked the ninth.

Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez hit solo homers in the third for the Yankees, who got six doubles to finish their West Coast trip 4-6 after dropping the first four games. It was O’Neill’s 17th homer of the season and the 24th for Martinez.

The Yankees scored four runs in the second on an RBI double by Mariano Duncan, a two-run double by Jim Leyritz and a sacrifice fly by Tim Raines. They added four in the eighth on RBI singles by Derek Jeter and Raines and a two-run double by pinch-hitter Charlie Hayes.

Minnesota 7, Texas 6--Paul Molitor tripled, doubled and singled, giving him 2,987 hits and tying Sam Rice for 21st on the career list as the Twins defeated the Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

Rich Becker’s homer helped the Twins take an early 6-0 lead. Juan Gonzalez hit his 42nd homer and Dean Palmer also homered during Texas’ six-run second inning that tied it.

The Twins’ Scott Stahoviak hit his 12th homer in the third against Gil Heredia (2-5) for the winning run.

Texas second baseman Mark McLemore was scratched from the starting lineup after he was struck in the face with a fungo bat during batting practice.

Chicago 11, Detroit 6--Harold Baines hit a bases-loaded single to break a seventh-inning tie as the White Sox squandered a five-run lead before beating the Tigers at Chicago.

Chicago, with six wins in the last seven games, stayed a game ahead of Baltimore in the wild-card chase.

Boston 7, Seattle 5--Rudy Pemberton doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Red Sox at Seattle.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 43rd homer and drove in four runs for Seattle, but struck out with two runners on base in the ninth.

Major league batting leader Alex Rodriguez set a Mariner record for hits in a season with 193, and also extended his hitting streak to 20 games.

The Red Sox remained 6 1/2 games behind New York in the AL East and 3 1/2 games behind Chicago in the wild-card race. The Mariners stayed six games behind Texas in the AL West and three behind in the wild-card chase.

Toronto 6, Kansas City 0--Woody Williams (3-2) gave up five hits in eight innings and Carlos Delgado hit a three-run home run as the Blue Jays ended a five-game losing streak at Toronto.

Cleveland 7, Milwaukee 0--Chad Ogea (8-5) pitched a four-hitter for the first shutout of his career, and Kenny Lofton and Jim Thome homered as the Indians won at Milwaukee.

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AL Playoff Race at a Glance DIVISION

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WEST W L Pct. GB Texas 78 61 .561 -- Seattle 72 66 .522 5 1/2

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CENTRAL W L Pct. GB Cleveland 82 57 .590 -- Chicago 76 65 .536 7

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EAST W L Pct. GB New York 78 61 .561 -- Baltimore 74 65 .532 4 Boston 71 68 .511 7

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WILD CARD

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TEAM W L Pct. GB Chicago 76 65 .539 -- Baltimore 73 65 .529 1 1/2 Seattle 72 66 .522 2 1/2 Boston 71 68 .511 4

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One wild-card team qualifies for the playoffs.