Confident Pettitte Impressive in Win

All Andy Pettitte needed was self-confidence, and the passing of the trade deadline seems to have brought it back.

Pettitte won his third consecutive start and Chuck Knoblauch hit a grand slam against his former team as the New York Yankees used a season-high 22 hits to rout the Minnesota Twins, 14-2, Friday at New York.

“To tell you the truth, I can’t remember my old self being as locked in as I’ve been these last three starts,” said Pettitte, who extended his shutout streak to 16 innings before Torii Hunter’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Pettitte, who has given up only two earned runs in his last 23 innings, gave up five hits in eight innings, struck out 11 to reach double digits for the first time in two years and walked three.

Bernie Williams and Luis Sojo hit two-run homers in a six-run third against LaTroy Hawkins (8-9). Williams is hitting .512 in August with six homers and 25 runs batted in.

Oakland 9, Toronto 8--Matt Stairs hit two home runs, including a tiebreaking grand slam in the fifth inning, to give the Athletics the opener of a three-game series between wild-card contenders at Toronto.

The A’s, who moved to within 1 1/2 games of the Blue Jays, are in the midst of an important seven-game trip with two more games against Toronto and four in Boston.

“We always say if you want to slug we can slug,” Stairs said. “It was sweet. We were the last men standing. We hit the long ball a lot and so do those guys.”

Roy Halladay (8-5) started for Toronto in place of David Wells, who is day-to-day because of a sore back. Halladay was replaced by Paul Spoljaric after loading the bases with two outs in the fifth. Stairs followed with his second slam of the season to give Oakland a 7-3 lead.

Stairs, who had three hits with five RBIs, gave Oakland an 8-5 lead in the seventh with his 29th homer.

Kevin Appier (12-9), acquired from Kansas City at the trading deadline, has won his first three starts with Oakland. Appier gave up five runs on four hits--including three homers--in 5 2/3 innings.

Boston 11, Seattle 6--Troy O’Leary had a tiebreaking bases-loaded triple and Brian Daubach drove in a career-high five runs with a homer and two doubles to lead the Red Sox at Boston.

“I had a bad day today,” said O’Leary, who went hitless in four other at-bats. “It counted, though. Sometimes it takes just one.”

Darren Lewis scored a career-high five runs for the Red Sox, who won for the seventh time in five games to move a half-game ahead of Toronto in the wild-card race.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 29th home run for the Mariners, who had won three in a row.

Cleveland 6, Baltimore 3--Manny Ramirez hit his second two-run homer one batter after Roberto Alomar singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning for the Indians at Cleveland.

Baltimore reliever Jesse Orosco pitched in his 1,071st game, tying Dennis Eckersley for the major league record. But Orosco’s eighth-inning appearance didn’t come until Ramirez had capped a three-run eighth with his 32nd homer. Ramirez, who has 120 RBIs, hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Scott Erickson (8-10).

“I shudder to think where we’d be without Manny,” Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove said.

Albert Belle drove in all three Baltimore runs.

Kansas City 2, Tampa Bay 1--Joe Randa hit a bases-loaded single over a drawn-in infield to lift the Royals at Kansas City.

Mike Sweeney extended his hitting streak to 25 games with a second-inning single for Kansas City.