Cone Drops Eighth Decision in Row

David Cone lost his career-worst eighth consecutive decision Thursday night, pitching five poor innings in the New York Yankees’ 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Minneapolis.

The first five Twin batters reached against Cone (1-10) in a three-run first inning.

Cone matched season highs by giving up eight runs, nine hits and five walks. He left after the first three batters reached in the sixth.

The Yankees have lost the last 12 times Cone has started, and he is winless in 14 starts since beating the Toronto Blue Jays on April 28.

“I’m not giving up,” said Cone, 37. “All athletes would like to go out on their own terms. I’m certainly going to try to do just that.”

Since pitching a perfect game against the Montreal Expos on July 18, 1999, Cone is 3-15 in 32 starts.

“I’ve tried a lot of things but nothing seems to work,” he said. “I still believe I’m a damned good pitcher. In my heart of hearts, I believe that. It just doesn’t look that way right now.”

Manager Joe Torre is not giving up on Cone, either.

“We still have a long way to go,” Torre said. “Whatever we can salvage, we will. When he threw strikes, he was OK. But he walked some people and you have no defense for that.”

Denny Hocking had four hits and Cristian Guzman knocked in three runs as the Twins won their third in a row, ending the Yankees’ four-game winning streak.

Tampa Bay 8, Kansas City 5--All-Star right fielder Jermaine Dye suffered a mild concussion, adding to the Royals’ woes at Kansas City, Mo.

Dye was injured when he ran into the wall trying to catch Jose Canseco’s double in the third inning.

Dye backpedaled and appeared to hit the wall hard with the back of his head, and crumpled to the ground. He stayed down for a couple of minutes, was driven off on a cart and taken to a hospital.

He said, however, that the injury was not serious.

“I feel good,” he said. “I think it’s a 24- to 48-hour thing. I’m still feeling woozy. I probably won’t play tomorrow, no activity or anything. I’ll be ready for Saturday.”

Gerald Williams had three hits and drove in three runs for the Devil Rays.

Tampa Bay bench coach Bill Russell wound up 2-0 while replacing suspended Manager Larry Rothschild. The penalty was imposed for Rothschild’s altercation with umpire Laz Diaz in a game July 18 against the Atlanta Braves.

Boston 5, Oakland 4--Troy O’Leary’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Red Sox at Oakland.

Because of a pregame trade with the Colorado Rockies and Carl Everett’s suspension for bumping an umpire July 15, the Red Sox had only 23 players available for the game. They had only one position player late in the game, outfielder Trot Nixon, who came in to play left in the 10th inning.

Toronto 7, Seattle 2--Jim Fregosi posted his 1,000th victory as a major league manager and Esteban Loaiza earned his first win for Toronto as the Blue Jays rallied at Seattle.

Pinch-hitter Todd Greene’s two-run single keyed a five-run seventh inning.

Seattle matched a season high with its third straight loss.

The game was delayed 17 minutes when a bank of Safeco Field lights went out in the bottom of the third inning. Last Saturday, there was a rain delay when the stadium’s retractable roof failed to shut.