Yankees Rally (and Rally and Rally) to Win

All it took for the New York Yankees to get on track in the Subway Series was a crack at the Mets’ bullpen.

Paul O’Neill hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning on reliever Mel Rojas’ first pitch and the Yankees defeated the Mets, 8-4, Friday in the opener of the eagerly anticipated series.

The Yankees came from behind three times to the delight of their fans, who sounded as though they made up half of the sellout crowd of 53,404 at Shea Stadium.

“It was exciting. I think when you add 50,000 people in New York, whether it’s at Shea Stadium or Yankee Stadium, it’s a lot of fun,” O’Neill said. “This is becoming a neat little tradition.”

Al Leiter, who grew up in New Jersey rooting for the Mets, took a 4-3 lead into the seventh against the Yankees, the team that gave up on him early in his career.

But the major league earned-run average leader ran into trouble against the top of the lineup, then strained his knee covering first on a Derek Jeter grounder.

Leiter will undergo an MRI exam today.

Colorado 12, Oakland 6--John Vander Wal and rookie Todd Helton hit two-run homers, and the Rockies won their third consecutive game, beating the Athletics at Denver.

Neifi Perez and Jeff Reed added solo homers for the Rockies, who had 19 hits and set a season-high in runs. Helton drove in three runs.

Boston 6, Florida 1--Pedro Martinez (10-2)limited the Marlins to five hits in eight innings and the Red Sox scored two runs on wild pitches in winning at Miami.

Nomar Garciaparra was four for five with two doubles to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, the second longest of his career. The longest was an AL-rookie record 30-game run last year.

Cleveland 4, Houston 2--Mark Whiten hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning, and Bartolo Colon bolstered his All-Star crusade with another strong outing as the Indians won at Cleveland.

Colon (8-4) gave up two runs and five hits in eight innings with one walk and seven strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.51, second in the AL.

Montreal 9, Baltimore 4--Rondell White went four for five with four RBIs as the Expos won at Montreal to stop a four-game losing streak.

White, who also scored three runs, hit a three-run homer in the first inning and an RBI single in the third. He also singled in the fifth and eighth.

Kansas City 6, Chicago Cubs 3--Jose Offerman hit a two-run homer and the Royals cooled off Sammy Sosa and defeated the Cubs before their biggest crowd (39,008) since opening day.

Sosa singled in four at-bats for the Cubs, who lost their sixth in a row. It’s their longest losing streak since a nine-game slide last summer.

Minnesota 5, St. Louis 1--Matt Lawton and Marty Cordova homered, Mark McGwire didn’t and six pitchers held the Cardinals to four hits to lead the Twins to victory at Minneapolis.

With most in the crowd of 29,089 cheering for McGwire to hit his 36th homer, the burly first baseman managed to come close only once as he went 0 for 4. His towering fly to left field in the fourth backed Marty Cordova to the wall.

Milwaukee 2, Chicago White Sox 1--Bob Hamelin hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, Jeff Juden pitched eight strong innings for the Brewers at Chicago.

Hamelin hit Bill Simas’ 1-1 pitch over the right-field fence for his fourth homer of the season.

Toronto 6, Atlanta 4--Carlos Delgado and Jose Canseco hit two-run homers as the Blue Jays defeated John Smoltz and the struggling Braves at Atlanta.

The Braves have lost three in a row and seven of their last nine.

Cincinnati 4, Detroit 3--Pete Harnisch (7-3) had his first victory in three weeks and the Reds won their second consecutive game after an 11-game losing streak, defeating the Tigers at Detroit.

Philadelphia 7, Tampa Bay 0--Tyler Green (6-4) held the Devil Rays to three hits in seven innings and Rico Brogna drove in three runs as the Phillies won at home.