Rain Doesn’t Dampen Victory

C.C. Sabathia became a trivia answer Friday night: He started a game, pitched less than five innings and got a victory.

Both scheduled starters never reached the mound, and the game between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians at New York didn’t get past the sixth inning.

Marty Cordova hit a go-ahead single in the fifth, and Sabathia got the victory as Cleveland rallied from a three-run deficit to win, 7-4, in a game stopped by rain after 5 1/2 innings.

“Luck of the draw,” Sabathia said.

Usually, starting pitchers must throw five innings for a victory. But the threshold is lowered to four innings when the opposing team only bats in five innings.

The rule hadn’t come into play since Larry Luebbers got a four-inning victory for the St. Louis Cardinals on Oct. 3, 1999. The last American League pitcher to do it had been Richie Lewis, who went 4 1/3 innings for Baltimore on July 31, 1992.

Sabathia (6-2) was pitching in Yankee Stadium for the first time.

“I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal, but then I got out there and I was pretty nervous,” he said.

Orlando Hernandez, the Yankees’ scheduled starter, was put on the disabled list because of an irritated toe on his left foot.

He was replaced by Ted Lilly (2-1), who gave up home runs to Roberto Alomar and Ellis Burks, and wasted a 4-1 lead in the fifth.

Seattle 8, Tampa Bay 4--Bret Boone drove in three runs at Seattle to help the Mariners win their ninth game in a row. The Mariners matched their longest winning streak of the season and improved to 41-12, giving them a 15-game lead over defending champion Oakland in the AL West.

Boone, second in the AL with 53 runs batted in, had three hits. He gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run double.

Boone hit an RBI single to cap a three-run fifth that gave Seattle a 5-2 lead.

Edgar Martinez singled and John Olerud doubled for the Mariners’ sixth run in the seventh. Ichiro Suzuki had an RBI single in a two-run eighth.

Minnesota 10, Texas 7--Torii Hunter came through in his season debut at cleanup, going three for five with RBI singles in both of the Twins five-run innings at Arlington, Texas.

Doug Mientkiewicz, Brian Buchanan and A.J. Pierzynski also drove in two runs each for Minnesota.

Boston 6, Toronto 4--Jason Varitek hit a go-ahead RBI single in the 11th inning at Toronto as the Red Sox won their third in a row.

Mike Lansing led off the 11th with a double off Billy Koch (0-2) before Varitek hit the first pitch for a single to center field.

Baltimore 8, Oakland 4--Jeff Conine hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning at Oakland as the Orioles ended a four-game losing streak.

Conine’s shot off Jim Mecir (2-5) gave the Orioles a 6-4 lead after the Athletics went ahead on Jason Giambi’s three-run shot in the sixth.

Chicago 3, Detroit 0--Mark Buehrle (3-3) shut down the Tigers and Jeff Liefer hit a solo home run for the White Sox at Chicago.

Paul Konerko and Magglio Ordonez added RBI singles for Chicago, which has won seven of eight.