Yankees Send Orioles a Message, 14-2

The New York Yankees gave the Baltimore Orioles something to think about besides the fashion in which they’ll celebrate their first division title in 13 years.

Derek Jeter and Paul O’Neill had three RBIs apiece in a nine-run sixth inning, and the Yankees handed Baltimore its most lopsided loss of the season, 14-2, Thursday night at Baltimore.

“We match up so well against them. They won the first seven, but we knew we could play with them,” winning pitcher Andy Pettitte said. “Everything they were doing was right, just like everything last year we were doing was right. This is a big win.”

The victory cut the Orioles’ lead over New York in the American League East to 7 1/2 games and kept Baltimore’s magic number to clinch the division title at 12.

New York was 0-7 against Baltimore this season before winning at home, 10-3, on Sunday. For an encore, the Yankees hammered the Orioles in a game that was reminiscent of last season, when New York won 10 of 13 against Baltimore.

Jeter had a three-run double and O’Neill hit a three-run homer in the sixth, the Yankees’ biggest inning of the year. New York got six hits and four walks off three Baltimore pitchers.

Pettitte (17-7) gave up one unearned run and five hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out one. He gave up a leadoff single to Brady Anderson and a walk to Aaron Ledesma in the first, then retired 17 in a row before Ledesma’s two-out single in the sixth.

Detroit 3, Seattle 1--Tiger rookie Brian Moehler gave up three hits in seven innings and Ken Griffey Jr. went homerless at Seattle.

Griffey had one hit in three at-bats, but failed to hit his 51st homer for the fourth game in a row. He is 2-for-16 since hitting his 50th homer in Minnesota on Sunday.

The Mariners remained 5 1/2 games ahead of the Angels in the AL West.

Moehler improved to 11-10, the most victories by a Detroit rookie since Dave Rozema won 15 and the AL rookie of the year award in 1977.

Moehler didn’t walk a batter and had two strikeouts in outdueling Jeff Fassero (15-9), who went 7 2/3 innings. Doug Brocail pitched the eighth inning and Todd Jones the ninth for his 20th consecutive save and 28th of the season.

Chicago 7, Cleveland 5--Robin Ventura hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning at Chicago.

The Indians, who swept three from the White Sox last weekend in Cleveland, still lead second-place Milwaukee by 5 1/2 games in the AL Central. Chicago trails Cleveland by 6 1/2 but is nine games back in the loss column.

Oakland 8, Toronto 7--Rookie Ben Grieve singled home the winning run with one out in the ninth as the Athletics defeated the Blue Jays in the final at-bat for the second consecutive game at Oakland.

The hit capped a two-run rally against reliever Kelvim Escobar (2-1).

On Wednesday night, Oakland defeated Toronto 3-2 on Brian Lesher’s pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.

With one out, Miguel Tejada reached on third baseman Tom Evans’ error. McDonald followed with a single that sent Tejada to third, and McDonald took second on the throw.

A passed ball by Benito Santiago made it 7-7, and Dave Magadan walked. Grieve, who is 14-for-40 (.350) since the Athletics promoted him to the majors, then hit a roller toward third base that scored McDonald.

T.J. Mathews (6-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Ivan Rodriguez Texas 3 home runs, 5 RBIs Win Derek Jeter New York 3-run double Win Paul O’Neill New York 3-run home run Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Roger Pavlik Texas 6 inn., 2 hits, 2 SO’s, 3 walks Win Andy Pettite New York 7 inn., 1 run, 5 hits Win Brian Moehler Detroit 7 inn., 3 hits, 2 SO’s, 0 walks Win

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