Mussina Chased Early by Marlins

Mike Mussina looked nothing like he did before the all-star break, and neither did the Florida Marlins.

Luis Castillo, Mike Lowell and Kevin Millar each drove in two runs and A.J. Burnett was effectively wild through six innings Thursday night as the Marlins pounded Mussina and the New York Yankees, 9-3, at Miami.

“I would have been better off if I didn’t pitch,” said Mussina, who lost for the first time in six starts.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if I would have gone out there left-handed. There are some days that no matter what you do or try you’re not going to trick anybody. It seemed that everything I threw they still managed to hit.”

The Marlins have won only three of 12. The Yankees lost for only the second time in 12 games.

Mussina (9-8) gave up 10 hits and eight runs in two-plus innings, his shortest outing since 1996. He pitched to the first five batters in the third inning, giving up five hits before giving way to Randy Choate.

“He was too fat in the strike zone,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “He needed to get the ball down. He had too much of the plate for most of the night.”

Mussina last pitched only two innings against the Yankees on Sept. 19, 1996, when he was with the Baltimore Orioles.

Burnett (6-5) gave up three runs--two earned--two hits and struck out six. He also walked five and hit Chuck Knoblauch with a pitch, knocking him out of the game with a bruised elbow in the third inning. Knoblauch is day-to-day.

Tampa Bay 10, Montreal 0--Tanyon Sturtze pitched seven scoreless innings and Brent Abernathy hit a home run for the Devil Rays at Montreal.

Toronto 2, Philadelphia 1--Jose Cruz Jr.’s run-scoring double broke a scoreless tie in the 11th inning and six Blue Jay pitchers combined on a four-hitter at Philadelphia.

Texas 6, Colorado 3--Ivan Rodriguez hit a home run and Kenny Rogers gave up six hits in seven innings for the Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

Rodriguez went three for four.

Minnesota 13, Milwaukee 5--Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie and Torii Hunter each hit two homers for the Twins at Milwaukee, tying a major league record.

Doug Mientkewicz also homered for the Twins, whose seven homers were one shy of a club record. They are the 15th team to have three players hit two homers in a game.

Atlanta 6, Baltimore 5--Mark DeRosa drove in the winning run with an eighth-inning single at Atlanta.

New York Mets 4, Boston 2--Al Leiter outpitched Tim Wakefield and the Mets, desperately needing a second-half surge to have any hope of playoff contention, won at New York.

Cleveland 7, Cincinnati 0--Bartolo Colon pitched seven shutout innings--his best performance since mid-April--and Jim Thome and Juan Gonzalez hit home runs at Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh 2, Kansas City 0--Jimmy Anderson pitched into the ninth inning at Pittsburgh for only his second victory since mid-May.