Thome Homers Twice in Indians’ Win

Jim Thome never has trouble getting up for the New York Yankees.

Having idols like Bob Feller and Al Rosen in the house seemed to get “Jim Dandy” even more pumped than usual.

Thome homered twice and the Cleveland Indians handed David Cone his first loss in 12 starts Friday night with a 7-4 victory over the Yankees at Cleveland.

Scott Brosius homered and drove in three runs for the AL East-leading Yankees (49-17), who have the best record in baseball and the third-best start in franchise history behind the 1928 and ’39 teams.

“You have to get pumped up to play the Yankees,” Thome said. “On paper, they’re the best team in baseball.”

Cone (9-2), who hadn’t lost since April 4, gave up five earned runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three, had three wild pitches, gave up two homers and hit a batter. The right-hander struck out 12 last Sunday in beating the Indians, 4-2, in New York.

“As good as I’ve been lately, I was equally as poor tonight,” Cone said.

Jaret Wright (6-4) was nearly as shaky as Cone but found a way to beat New York again. Wright, who beat the Yankees twice in last year’s division series as a wet-behind-the-ears rookie, gave up four runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, walking five and striking out five.

Kenny Lofton hit his second homer in three days as Cleveland evened the four-game series between the division leaders and age-old rivals at one apiece. It was only New York’s sixth loss in 22 games at Jacobs Field.

Alvin Morman and Paul Assenmacher combined for 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Mike Jackson pitched the ninth for his 14th save.

“This is the kind of game we need to play to beat the Yankees,” Indians Manager Mike Hargrove said.

Kansas City 8, Detroit 4--Jeff King’s two-run homer capped a four-run first inning that carried the Royals at Detroit.

The Royals, who also got a home run from Mike Sweeney, won their third consecutive game and sixth in their last eight.

Brian Hunter hit two doubles for the Tigers, who lost for the 14th time in 19 games.

Glendon Rusch (5-8), who threw a seven-hit shutout against the Tigers in his last start, beat them again despite struggling through five innings. The left-hander gave up four runs and nine hits, walked three and had no strikeouts.

Ricky Bones, recalled Tuesday from triple-A Omaha, gave up two hits in four shutout innings in his first appearance of the season to gain his first career save.

Rookie Seth Greisinger (0-3) had the worst of his four big-league starts, giving up six runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked four.

Minnesota 10, Chicago 6--Marty Cordova homered in his second consecutive game and Matt Lawton had a three-run homer and four RBIs at Chicago.

Cordova, who hit a solo homer Thursday, hit a two-run homer in a four-run fourth inning as the Twins won for the fourth time in six games. Lawton had an RBI single in the first and hit his seventh homer of the season in the ninth.

Mike Trombley (3-2) picked up the victory with 3 1/3 innings of one-hit relief. Greg Swindell gave up two runs in the ninth, including a solo homer to Robin Ventura, but pitched 2 1/3 innings for his second save.

Jaime Navarro (5-9) took the loss, his sixth in his last seven starts. He gave up seven runs and seven hits, walked four and threw two wild pitches over four innings.

Boston 4, Tampa Bay 1--Nomar Garciaparra hit two solo homers and Jason Varitek hit another as the Red Sox defeated the Devil Rays for their fourth victory in a row at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Steve Avery (4-1) gave up four hits over 5 1/3 innings to earn the victory, Boston’s ninth in 11 games, and Tom Gordon pitched the ninth for his 22nd save.

Garciaparra, who has an 11-game hitting streak, homered off Tony Saunders (1-7) to break a 1-1 tie. It was only the second hit off the Devil Rays pitcher, who is 0-6 in 11 starts since getting his only victory for the expansion team on April 16.

Seattle 9, Oakland 1--David Segui hit a grand slam and Ken Griffey Jr. hit his AL-leading 28th homer at Seattle as the Mariners snapped a five-game losing streak.

Alex Rodriguez added his 25th homer and Randy Johnson (6-6) ended his first personal three-game losing streak since 1993 for the last-place Mariners.

Johnson, who was 0-3 with a 6.10 earned-run average in June coming in, held the A’s to one unearned run and struck out 12 in eight innings. He gave up eight hits and had two wild pitches.

Just back after a 2-8 trip, the defending AL West champion Mariners grabbed a 7-0 lead on Segui’s 12th homer, a 429-foot shot over the center-field fence in the second inning off Blake Stein (3-4).

Segui had an RBI fielder’s choice in the first when the Mariners scored three times. Griffey and Edgar Martinez each doubled in a run.

Griffey led off Seattle’s fourth with his ninth homer in 17 games, and Rodriguez homered to lead off the sixth.

The A’s scored in the third on Mike Blowers’ RBI double. Blowers had three hits against Johnson, his former Seattle teammate.

Oakland committed four errors, three by shortstop Miguel Tejada, but seven of the eight runs scored in three-plus innings against Stein were earned.

Baltimore 7, Toronto 4--A three-run home run by Rafael Palmeiro with two out in the bottom of the 15th inning lifted the Orioles at Baltimore.