Yankees Are Playing Hardball

Cecil Fielder, helped by a hard slide from Tim Raines, drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning in his return to Tiger Stadium, and the New York Yankees overcame Dwight Gooden’s shortest start ever to defeat Detroit, 9-8, Tuesday night.

“Knocking the guy out at second base, that’s hard baseball,” said New York Manager Joe Torre, who held a 25-minute, closed-door meeting with his team before the game. “That’s old-time baseball. That won us a ballgame tonight.”

Bernie Williams singled to start the inning and went to third base on a hit-and-run single to right by Raines. Fielder then hit a grounder to Phil Hiatt at third in what appeared to be an inning-ending, double play.

A hard slide by Raines prevented Lewis at second base from getting off a relay to first, and Williams scored.

“That’s just doing my job,” Raines said. “It’s not that many opportunities I get to take somebody out. But that late in the game, with the game on the line, I wasn’t going to let him get the double play.”

Defensive replacement Ruben Rivera made a diving catch in the ninth that preserved the victory, which kept the Yankees 2 1/2 games ahead of Baltimore in the American League East.

“I didn’t think of anything because the ball was so far,” Ruben Rivera said. “I only knew I had to run as fast as I can. I didn’t know if I could get it. I went into a slide and it moved in my glove, but it stayed there.”

With Gooden being knocked out after only two-thirds of an inning--the shortest of his 330 starts in the majors--Mariano Rivera (6-2), the fifth of six Yankee pitches, got the victory with two innings of shutout relief. John Wetteland pitched the ninth for his 39th save.

Derek Jeter had two triples and Paul O’Neill added a two-run homer for the Yankees.

Baltimore 5, Chicago 1--David Wells pitched 7 1/3 solid innings and Rafael Palmeiro hit his 35th homer as the Orioles moved ahead of the White Sox in the wild-card race with a victory at Baltimore.

Wells (11-13) gave up one run, seven hits, two walks and struck out three before 43,320.

“The fans were great. It was pretty exciting out there,” Wells said. “This is an important series. If we keep playing like this, we’ve got a great shot.”

Alan Mills got the final two outs in the eighth and Randy Myers worked the ninth as the Orioles won their fourth consecutive game.

Chicago lost for only the third time in 11 games and fell to 7-3 against Baltimore this season.

Milwaukee 11, Boston 10--Jeff Cirillo homered twice and drove in a career-high four runs at Boston, as the Brewers held on to hand the Red Sox their fourth consecutive defeat.

Ramon Garcia (4-3) got the win in his first start after 33 relief appearances as Cirillo had his first four-hit game, including homers in the first two innings, a run-scoring single in the fifth and a double in the seventh.

Texas 11, Toronto 8--Darren Oliver (12-6) gave up three runs over six innings and Will Clark hit a three-run homer at Toronto to lead the Rangers to their fifth consecutive victory and eighth in a row over the Blue Jays.

Mickey Tettleton hit his 21st home run and Lee Stevens also homered as the Rangers moved a season-high 22 games over .500. Mike Henneman got the last out for his 30th save.

Oakland 7, Minnesota 0--Dave Telgheder pitched a three-hitter for his first career shutout and Ernie Young hit a three-run homer for the Athletics at Minneapolis.

Telgheder (3-6) tied a career high with seven strikeouts and walked three to win for only the second time in his last seven decisions. The Twins got only one runner past second base and had two runners in the same inning only once.

Mike Bordick had three hits, including a run-scoring double, as Oakland started an 11-game road trip with its fourth consecutive victory.

Kansas City 4, Seattle 2--Bob Hamelin, whose poor defensive play helped the Mariners score twice in the top of the sixth inning at Kansas City, hit a tie-breaking homer in the bottom of the inning to help the Royals end a four-game losing streak.

Jose Rosado (6-5) gave up six hits, walked two and struck out eight in seven innings.