Reserves Get Their Chance in Yankee Sweep

It doesn’t matter who Manager Joe Torre puts on his lineup card. The Yankees can’t seem to lose.

Despite resting several regulars in the second game, the Yankees pushed their record to 53 games over .500 for the first time this season with a day-night doubleheader sweep of the Kansas City Royals on Friday at Yankee Stadium.

“I say, ‘Wow’ a lot, either out loud or to myself,” Torre said. “This ballclub just continues to come at you.”

In the second game, rookie Shane Spencer went five for five with his first two major league homers and David Wells (14-2) improved his home record to 9-0 as the Yankees increased their winning streak over the Royals to six games.

“I’ve never had five hits in my life,” Spencer said. “Not even in Little League. A couple of home runs, but nothing like this.”

In the opener, David Cone became the majors’ first 16-game winner, giving up two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

“Sixteen wins is amazing to me. But it’s just a byproduct of a great team record,” Cone said.

Bernie Williams and Chuck Knoblauch homered in the second game as the Yankees improved to 82-29. On pace to the break the 1906 Chicago Cubs’ record of 116 wins in a season, the Yankees will play 33 of their final 51 games at Yankee Stadium, where they are 40-8.

Wells yielded six hits, struck out four and walked none in his second consecutive complete game and fourth this season.

Torre rested Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, Darryl Strawberry and Scott Brosius in the second game and the Yankees didn’t miss a beat.

Kansas City’s Jose Offerman tripled in the ninth inning of the second game to extend his hitting streak to 27 games.

Oakland 7, Toronto 6--Ed Sprague hit a tie-breaking double in his return to Toronto and Rickey Henderson homered for the second consecutive game to lead the Athletics.

Sprague, traded from the Blue Jays to the A’s on July 31, gave the A’s a 3-2 lead in the sixth.

Jimmy Haynes (8-4) gave up two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Blue Jay starter Woody Williams gave up five runs, seven hits and walked four in 6 2/3 innings.

Texas 4, Boston 3--Juan Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and Rick Helling out-pitched Pedro Martinez for his 15th victory and the Rangers defeated the Red Sox at Arlington, Texas for their sixth consecutive victory.

Martinez (15-4) recovered from a three-run first to strike out a season-high 13. He gave up four runs, six hits and walked two in 6 2/3 innings.

Helling (15-6) gave up three runs and seven hits over six innings, leaving after Mike Benjamin’s leadoff double in the seventh. Tim Crabtree got out of the seventh without giving up a run, and John Wetteland pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 35 chances. Wetteland struck out Mo Vaughn for the second consecutive night to end the game. Vaughn was the potential tying run in both games.

Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly increased his major league leading RBI total to 119.

Baltimore 16, Minnesota 9--Harold Baines had a three-run homer and a season-high five RBIs, and Brady Anderson had a career-high five hits including two homers, leading the Orioles at Minneapolis.

Baines had a two-run single in the first inning. He added his sixth homer to make it 9-7 in the sixth, raising his league-best average with runners on base to .367.

Anderson was five for six. He went into the game with a .146 average in his last 15 games.

Baltimore won its fourth in a row and moved four games over .500 (59-55) for the first time since April 25.

Cal Ripken hit a three-run homer in the eighth, and Eric Davis extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a single. He is one game short of the club record set by Rafael Palmeiro in 1994.

Jimmy Key (5-3), on the disabled list from May 24 to July 28 with stiffness in his left shoulder, pitched two-thirds of an inning in his first regular-season relief appearance in 12 years.

Cleveland 5, Tampa Bay 1--Dwight Gooden won in his hometown debut and the Indians defeated Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Gooden (4-6) yielded five hits and struck out a season-high six in 6 1/3 innings for his first victory in four decisions.

The right-hander, who grew up in Tampa and owns a home less than 15 minutes from Tropicana Field, gave up an RBI double to Kevin Stocker in the third inning. He kept the Indians in the game, working out of a jam with runners at second and third in the sixth inning.