Improved Cone Loses in Return to N.Y.

David Cone succeeded in tuning out the crowd and the distractions in his Yankee Stadium return--until Derek Jeter flashed him a smile before batting in the first inning.

Jeter did more than break his former teammate’s concentration. He teamed with Bernie Williams to beat Cone and the Boston Red Sox, 7-3, Wednesday night at New York.

“It was a bit disarming,” Cone said of Jeter’s reaction. “I’m trying to keep my game face going but Derek has that type of personality where he’s almost laughing at me, not believing that I’m facing him. I didn’t want to look at him but you can’t help it.”

Cone was sharp against his former team, but not good enough. Jeter went five for five with a homer and three runs, Williams homered and drove in three runs and Andy Pettitte (5-3) pitched into the ninth inning to lead New York.

Cone (0-1) gave up three runs and six hits in five innings. It was quite a contrast from the pitcher who went 4-14 with a 6.91 earned-run average last season, leading to his departure from New York.

Cone received a warm ovation as he walked from the third base dugout to the Yankee Stadium mound for the first time since June 23, 1995, for Toronto.

It was thanks for a Yankee career that included 60 victories, four World Series titles and a perfect game.

“It was a good feeling,” Cone said. “It was a nice feeling to be back pitching when it means something.”

Toronto 9, Chicago 6--David Wells gave the Blue Jay fans even more reason to boo--and laugh.

Wells gave up a career-high 13 hits and eight runs in his return to SkyDome and made a mental gaffe that helped the Blue Jays win at Toronto.

Wells (3-5) gave up seven earned runs in 5 1/3 innings as the White Sox lost their eighth in a row.

Wells, who said Blue Jay fans “stink” before being traded to the White Sox in the off-season, did not talk to reporters after the game.

The left-hander lost track of the outs in the first inning and tossed the ball to an umpire, allowing a run to score.

“I laughed about that for three hours,” Toronto reliever Billy Koch said. “That was just funny.”

Joey Hamilton (2-2) won for the first time since April 9.

Seattle 5, Minnesota 4--David Bell hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning at Minneapolis, leading the Mariners to a split in the series between the teams with baseball’s best records.

A day after Minnesota won the opener, 12-11, Torii Hunter hit a three-run homer for the Twins and Luis Rivas made it 4-4 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh off Freddy Garcia.

Bell homered an inning later off Hector Carrasco (2-1), who had pitched six consecutive scoreless innings. Bell also hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Arthur Rhodes (4-0) got two outs for the victory.

Cleveland 4, Detroit 3--Juan Gonzalez’s one-out homer off Dave Borkowski (0-1) in the 10th inning beat his former team at Cleveland.

The Indians overcame a nullified home run by Wilfredo Cordero in the sixth and the ejection of Manager Charlie Manuel.

Bob Wickman (2-0) got the victory.

Kansas City 4, Oakland 1--Chad Durbin (3-2) pitched four-hit ball for seven innings at Kansas City, Mo., and won his third consecutive decision, stopping the Athletics’ seven-game winning streak.

Former Royal standout Johnny Damon was booed during each at-bat and cheered when he grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Tampa Bay 10, Texas 6--Gerald Williams doubled off Tim Crabtree (0-3) in the sixth and broke a 6-6 tie when Juan Moreno balked twice at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Dan Wheeler (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings.