Williams Has a Grand Night for the Yankees

A day after hitting his first home run of the season, Bernie Williams hit a grand slam Wednesday night that sent the Yankees over the Texas Rangers, 8-6, at New York.

The Yankees won their third in a row and 25th in 28 games, and stopped Texas’ winning streak at five. New York improved to 11-1 at home and have the best record in the majors at 26-7.

Williams, who did not homer in his first 31 games, connected for a fifth-inning slam off Rick Helling (6-1).

“I was very aggressive, attacking the ball,” said Williams. “Right now, I’m like a surfer, just riding a wave.”

Derek Jeter hit a three-run homer for the Yankees.

Juan Gonzalez and Will Clark had consecutive home runs off David Cone (5-1), and Ivan Rodriguez later homered for the Rangers.

“I had a Catfish Hunter night--three solo shots with a lot of yardage,” said Cone, referring to the former Yankees Hall of Famer known for giving up the long ball. “They were ready for me. You can’t make mistakes with that lineup.”

Mariano Rivera earned his seventh save by getting four outs. He retired Rusty Greer on a grounder with runners on first and third to end the game.

Baltimore 8, Cleveland 1--Brady Anderson broke out of a season-long slump with two home runs at Baltimore and the Orioles extended Cleveland’s losing streak to a season-high six games.

Anderson entered the game batting only .074 and was in a one-for-32 slide with only two extra-base hits in 68 at-bats before he hit the first pitch of the game from Chad Ogea (1-2) over the right-field scoreboard.

“It’s pretty exciting, and it’s not just the home runs,” said Baltimore Manager Ray Miller of Anderson.

“He’s been working real hard. He had that look in his eyes like two days ago. He’s got that swagger when he stands on top of home plate and he looks you right in the eye and says, ‘Let’s go.’ It’s fun to see because that takes the pressure off everybody else.”

Mike Bordick had three hits for the Orioles, including his fourth home run.

The Indians’ six-game losing streak is their longest since dropping six in a row June 20-26, 1992.

Doug Drabek (3-4) won for the second time in three starts.

Minnesota 7, Boston 4--Todd Walker and Terry Steinbach hit solo homers at Minneapolis as the Twins handed Bret Saberhagen his first loss this season.

Walker hit Saberhagen’s second pitch of the game 388 feet to right-center field and Steinbach homered to left in the second, jump-starting the Twins to a 6-0 lead. Saberhagen (5-1) gave up all six of those runs on eight hits in three-plus innings.

The Red Sox rallied behind a three-run sixth inning, which included Mo Vaughn’s 200th career homer, but they still lost their third consecutive game. Boston is 6-6 in May after setting a team record and tying the AL mark with 18 wins in April.

Brad Radke (4-3) snapped a two-start losing streak.

Kansas City 4, Tampa Bay 0--Pat Rapp pitched a four-hitter and Johnny Damon drove in two runs with a single at St. Petersburg, Fla., as Kansas City snapped a four-game losing streak.

Jeff King and Ernie Young also drove in runs in support of Rapp (3-3), who struck out a career-high 10 and walked two in his fifth career shutout.

King drove in a run with a first-inning sacrifice fly off Tony Saunders (1-4), but the Royals’ cleanup hitter was ejected in the fifth for arguing with home plate umpire Tim Welke over a called third strike.

Young took over King’s spot in the batting order and chased Sanders with a two-run double in the seventh.

Detroit 8, Seattle 5--Tony Clark homered and drove in four runs at Detroit for the Tigers, who avoided matching the worst 34-game start in team history--10-24 by both the 1953 and 1996 clubs.

Brian Moehler (3-3) picked up the win despite allowing five runs in the third inning.

Bryce Florie pitched two hitless innings and Todd Jones finished for his fifth save. Ken Cloude (3-2) allowed six runs and five hits in two-plus innings.