Yankee Pitching Is Ready

The New York Yankees’ postseason pitching rotation appears set.

Orlando Hernandez pitched four scoreless relief innings in his bid to make the playoff roster and the Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 1-0, Sunday at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Hernandez, who has complained of a tired right arm, made his first appearance since Sept. 29. He gave up one hit, struck out four and walked two.

Should Hernandez (4-7) be healthy, Manager Joe Torre said he would start in Game 4 of New York’s first-round series against Oakland. Hernandez is 8-1 lifetime in the postseason.

Mike Mussina, the scheduled Game 3 starter, gave up an infield hit and struck out four in four scoreless innings in his final outing of the regular season. Mussina gave up only seven earned runs in his last 49 innings.

Clay Bellinger hit an eighth-inning homer against Jesus Colome (2-3). Three of Bellinger’s five homers came against Tampa Bay.

Mariano Rivera earned his 50th save, the third-most in AL history. He gave the game ball to infielder Luis Sojo, who said he is retiring after the playoffs.

The Devil Rays (62-100) became the first AL team to lose 100 games since the 1996 Detroit Tigers.

Minnesota 8, Chicago 5-Brad Radke (15-11) earned his 15th victory and Matthew LeCroy drove in two runs with two doubles at Minneapolis.

After eight consecutive losing seasons, the Twins (85-77) finished second in the AL Central, six games behind Cleveland.

Corey Koskie had two hits, scored three runs and drove in three to finish with 103 runs batted in, Minnesota’s first 100-RBI man since 1996.

Cleveland 3, Toronto 2-C.C. Sabathia (17-5) gave up one hit in five innings for Cleveland at Toronto.

Russell Branyan hit his 20th home run as the Indians ended a four-game skid.

The Indians, the AL Central champions, start their first-round series against Seattle on Tuesday.

The Blue Jays (80-82) finished with their first losing season since 1997.

Kansas City 10, Detroit 4-Carlos Beltran hit a grand slam and a two-run homer at Detroit.

The Royals (65-97) and the Tigers (66-96) finished with losing records for an unprecedented eighth consecutive year.

The Royals avoided the worst record in club history, but tied the team mark for losses set in 1970 and matched in 1999.

Detroit had its worst season since 1998, when it lost 98 games.

Blake Stein (7-8) pitched seven strong innings, giving up two runs on two hits.