Yankees Get Well Against Irabu

With the kind of slump he’s in right now, Tino Martinez would have settled for any hit.

Martinez did much more, breaking an 0-for-15 slide with a pair of two-run home runs that helped the New York Yankees defeat former teammate Hideki Irabu and the Montreal Expos, 9-3, Wednesday night at New York.

“When you’re 0 for 15 or whatever I was, you just want to get a hit,” said Martinez, who hadn’t homered since May 18.

Roger Clemens (8-1) gave up three runs in the first two innings before settling down, retiring 13 of 14 Expos at one point.

“They got my attention pretty quick,” Clemens said.

Clemens gave up seven hits and struck out six in eight innings to earn his fourth consecutive victory.

“Roger is one of those guys who gets stronger as the game goes on,” Montreal Manager Jeff Torborg said. “Just like Nolan [Ryan] used to. When you score against him you better keep going.”

Jorge Posada, starting at catcher for the first time in eight games, homered and drove in the tiebreaking run as New York spoiled Irabu’s return to Yankee Stadium.

“The Yankees are the Yankees,” Irabu said through an interpreter when asked if the game was more meaningful to him than usual.

Irabu, who was considered a disappointment as a Yankee, gave up five runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

The Yankees, who had lost three in a row, scored their most runs since beating Cleveland, 9-4, on June 2. The recent offensive slump prompted owner George Steinbrenner to criticize Martinez and other players.

Martinez, who entered the game in a 12-for-81 (.148) slump, hit his first two-run shot off Scott Stewart in the sixth and added another off Darwin Cubillan in the eighth. Martinez has nine homers.

Chicago White Sox 4, Cincinnati 2--Mark Buehrle’s 24 2/3 scoreless-inning streak ended on the game’s first batter, but his winning streak continued after giving up five hits over eight innings in the White Sox’ victory at Chicago.

Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee and Ray Durham hit solo home runs for the White Sox, who have won 15 of their last 18 games and are three games under .500 (29-32) for the first time since April 20.

Buehrle (5-3) has won four consecutive starts, but he gave up Brady Clark’s first major league home run on the fifth pitch. It was the first run given up by Buehrle since the eighth inning May 20 at Oakland.

Even with the earned run, Buehrle has a 0.68 earned-run average over his last five starts, and 3.15 ERA overall. Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.

Kansas City 4, St. Louis 1--Kris Wilson held the Cardinals to only one run--Mark McGwire’s 425-foot home run--in his first major league start, leading the Royals to a victory at Kansas City, Mo.

Wilson (1-0), who was shaky in 11 relief appearances this season, gave up eight hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings.

McGwire sent a 3-2 pitch soaring into the left-field bleachers in the second inning for his 557th career homer and 194th with the Cardinals.

It was the first major league victory for Wilson, who was 0-1 in 20 relief appearances last season.

New York Mets 7, Baltimore 6--Tsuyoshi Shinjo singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning as the Mets rallied from a six-run deficit to win at Baltimore.

The Mets trailed, 6-0, in the seventh when Baltimore starter Sidney Ponson left with elbow stiffness. New York got one run in the seventh and two in the eighth before drawing even with a three-run ninth inning against Mike Trombley.

In the 10th, Mike Piazza hit a one-out opposite-field double to right off Buddy Groom (1-2), took third on a groundout and scored on Shinjo’s single to right.

Oakland 6, San Diego 2--Frank Menechino hit two home runs and drove in three runs as the visiting Athletics defeated the staggering Padres at San Diego.

Menechino hit a two-run homer off starter Adam Eaton in the sixth, and a solo shot off David Lee in the ninth. He has 10 home runs this year and two two-homer games.

The A’s won for the fourth time in five games to go above .500 (32-31) for the first time since May 26. The defending AL West champions are 17 1/2 games behind the Seattle Mariners.

Cleveland 5, Milwaukee 2--Jim Thome hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning to give the Indians the victory at Cleveland.

Thome hit a 3-1 pitch from Ray King 428 feet and over the center-field wall to give the Indians their fifth victory in their final at-bat at Jacobs Field this season.

Florida 4, Boston 2--Kevin Millar went three for four and scored the tiebreaking run as the Marlins defeated the Red Sox at Boston.

Millar, batting .440 in his last seven games, singled in the game’s first run in the second inning, doubled in the fourth, and doubled and scored on Derrek Lee’s sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Detroit 6, Pittsburgh 3--Jeff Weaver pitched seven strong innings and Tony Clark homered to lead the Tigers at Detroit.

The win prevented the Pirates from recording their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Tampa Bay 5, Philadelphia 3--Bryan Rekar ended his seven-game losing streak and won for the first time since Sept. 28, while Greg Vaughn hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning as the Devil Rays defeated the slumping Phillies at St. Petersburg, Fla.