It Takes a While, but Yankees Win

Paul O’Neill hit an RBI single in the 17th inning and the New York Yankees beat Toronto, 6-5, Thursday night at SkyDome in a game that took five hours 57 minutes, the longest in Blue Jay history.

The longest game in the majors this season ended at 1:06 a.m. EDT. About 1,500 fans in the announced crowd of 24,684 were left for the finish.

O’Neill singled with two out for his fourth hit, ending the Yankees’ four-game losing streak. The Blue Jays blew a chance to win it much earlier, failing to score after loading the bases with none out in the ninth.

The 17 innings matched the most in Toronto history. At 5:57, it broke the previous record of 5:49 it took the Blue Jays to play Baltimore on June 19, 1998.

The Yankees last played 17 innings on July 20, 1998, in the first game of a doubleheader against Detroit.

Bob File (1-1) retired the first two batters in the Yankees’ 17th before Chuck Knoblauch walked. Knoblauch moved to second on Derek Jeter’s single, and slid home around catcher Darrin Fletcher on O’Neill’s single.

Roger Clemens, making his first start in Toronto since being traded to the Yankees in 1999, gave up five runs and eight in six innings.

Chicago 3, Detroit 1--David Wells needed only 100 pitches, including an incredible 81 for strikes, in a complete game at Detroit.

Wells (2-2) worked around eight hits, walked none and struck out six. It was his 46th complete game.

Detroit threatened in the ninth, using Tony Clark’s single and an error to put runners on first and second with one out, but Wells escaped.

Magglio Ordonez drove in two runs for the White Sox.

Boston 8, Tampa Bay 3--Pedro Martinez struck out 13 in six innings and the Red Sox swept Tampa Bay at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Brian Daubach homered for the third straight game as Boston dropped the Devil Rays to 0-2 under Manager Hal McRae.

Martinez (2-0) left after giving up a leadoff double to John Flaherty and RBI single to Felix Martinez with no out in the seventh. He gave up nine hits.

Martinez had an eight-inning, 16-strikeout performance to beat the Devil Rays on April 8.

Oakland 9, Texas 5--Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi homered at Arlington, Texas, as the Athletics beat Kenny Rogers for the first time since 1994.

Barry Zito (2-1) matched a career high with 10 strikeouts in his six innings.

Six of Zito’s strikeouts were on called third strikes. The only runs he yielded were on a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez--his first for the Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington.

The last time Rogers (1-1) had lost to Oakland was Aug. 7, 1994. He then went 7-0 in his next 11 appearances against the A’s before giving up seven runs and 11 hits in six innings Thursday.

Cleveland 11, Baltimore 5--Marty Cordova homered twice and drove in four runs as the Indians completed their first three-game sweep at Baltimore since 1988.

It was the fifth career two-homer game for Cordova, who gave Cleveland a 3-2 lead with a solo drive in the fourth inning and then added a three-run shot in the fifth. Brady Anderson had three hits for the Orioles, who have lost eight of 11.