Clemens Is Difference for Yankees

The New York Yankees always like their chances with Roger Clemens on the mound.

“It puts your team in a good mood. You know you have a chance to win,” Manager Joe Torre said Saturday. “It doesn’t always happen that way. But as far as attitude of your team, it’s good.”

Clemens became the American League’s first 10-game winner, giving up five hits in six innings in the Yankees’ 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Scott Brosius hit a solo home run and drove in both of New York’s runs to help Clemens (10-1) win his sixth consecutive start. It was the 270th victory of the right-hander’s career, tying him with Burleigh Grimes for 28th on the all-time list.

Clemens gave up one run, struck out eight and walked three before being pulled in favor of Mike Stanton, who bailed the Yankee ace out of a jam with runners at first and third with no outs in the seventh.

“I thought Roger was wilder than he wanted to be, but he battled it,” Torre said. “It wasn’t easy for him. He had a lot of long counts. He fought his way through it.”

Toronto 9, Boston 6--Manny Ramirez hit a pair of long home runs totaling 964 feet but the Blue Jays won at Bostonwith a seven-run second inning.

Boston has lost two in a row after a four-game winning streak, having its AL East lead over the second-place Yankees cut in half to two games.

Ramirez’s first homer hit a sign above the left-center field screen and traveled an estimated 463 feet. The second was a 501-foot drive that carried into a lower row of lights on a tower high above the Green Monster in left field.

The longest homer in Fenway Park history is believed to be 502 feet, hit by Ted Williams on June 9, 1946 off Detroit’s Fred Hutchinson.

Kansas City 3, Cleveland 2--John Rocker didn’t arrive until the eighth inning and didn’t pitch for the Indians at Kansas City, Mo.

Rocker, acquired a day earlier from Atlanta, met weather and traffic delays.

Kansas City’s Chad Durbin overcame solo home runs in the first two innings to improve his record to 5-6 Durbin pitched seven innings, allowing six hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Cleveland’s Dave Burba (8-4) allowed only four hits in pitching a complete game for only the fifth time in his career.

Oakland 5, Texas 4--Eric Chavez drove home pinch-runner Tim Hudson with a single off the wall in the 10th inning as the Athletics won at Oakland.

A’s closer Jason Isringhausen (2-2) got the victory, but he also blew the save--his major league-leading sixth--on a two-out home run by Ruben Sierra in the ninth.

Chicago 8, Baltimore 3--Tony Graffanino and Paul Konerko each hit home runs in a six-run seventh inning that carried the White Sox at Baltimore. Ray Durham, in an 0-for-21 slump, had two doubles for Chicago, which has won 21 of its last 28 games.

Detroit 10, Minnesota 9--Juan Encarnacion hit a three-run double to cap a four-run seventh inning for the Tigersat Detroit.