Twins Are the Only Trouble for N.Y.

While the Minnesota Twins were just hoping not to get hit by anything thrown by New York fans, the Yankees struggled to get hits against one of their former pitching prospects.

Eric Milton threw a four-hitter in his first shutout of the season, and Cristian Guzman hit a home run Tuesday night to lead the Twins to a 2-0 victory before a well-behaved Yankee Stadium crowd.

“Eric pitched a terrific game--an understatement,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said. “I can’t say enough about the young man. Eric kept it under control.”

Milton (4-2) struck out seven and walked two in his third shutout, his first since pitching a no-hitter against the Angels on Sept. 11, 1999.

The normal number of security personnel was around the stadium, and Kevin Hallinan, executive director of security for the commissioner’s office, was in attendance.

After fans sitting in the Metrodome’s left-field stands pelted Knoblauch with quarters, golf balls, hot dogs and plastic beer cups during the Yankees’ series at Minneapolis last week, Hallinan and the teams reviewed a security plan before the game to prevent any possible retribution by Yankee fans.

But there were no reported incidents as the Yankees’ four-game winning streak was stopped as they were shut out for the first time this season.

Orlando Hernandez (0-4), who has lost six consecutive regular-season decisions--the longest losing streak of his career--pitched six innings and gave up two runs and eight hits. He struck out four and walked three.

Tampa Bay 4, Baltimore 3--Fred McGriff’s two-out, opposite-field home run broke an eighth-inning tie at St. Petersburg, Fla.

McGriff joined Mark McGwire, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Eddie Murray and Reggie Jackson as the only players to homer against 300 pitchers when he sent a 2-and-1 delivery from Jose Mercedes (0-6) over the wall.

The loss was the sixth in a row for the Orioles, while the Devil Rays ended a three-game skid.

Boston 12, Seattle 4--Manny Ramirez hit the first of the Red Sox’ four two-run homers at Boston and the Red Sox sent the Mariners to their third consecutive loss.

Boston, which won its third in a row, broke a first-place tie in the American League East with the Toronto Blue Jays, who lost to the Oakland Athletics.

The Red Sox hit four homers for the first time since a 10-0 victory over the Devil Rays on April 17, in which Ramirez hit two.

Hideo Nomo (4-2) left after five innings with a 9-3 lead, and Tim Wakefield and Derek Lowe each pitched two innings.

Oakland 8, Toronto 5--Miguel Tejada homered and had four runs batted in for the A’s at Toronto.

Tejada hit a three-run homer against Esteban Loaiza (4-3) in the sixth to give Oakland a 7-1 lead. Three of Tejada’s eight home runs this season are against Loaiza.

Cleveland 8, Kansas City 4--Omar Vizquel hit his first homer of the season and Jim Thome added a three-run shot in the seventh inning at Cleveland as the Indians rallied for their ninth consecutive victory.

Vizquel’s two-out homer against Tony Cogan (0-2) and Thome’s 474-foot bomb against Doug Henry gave the Indians their longest winning streak since 1995.

Detroit 5, Texas 4--Ranger third baseman Ken Caminiti mishandled a chopper by Juan Encarnacion to let the winning run score at Detroit.

Tim Crabtree (0-1), in his first appearance since April 15, gave up a leadoff double to Jose Macias and walked Bobby Higginson. Robert Fick hit a run-scoring single to tie the score and Caminiti’s error then allowed Higginson to score from third.

The Rangers (12-20) have lost eight of nine and are off to their worst start since 1985.