Rookie Driskill, 30, Stops Yankees, 4-3

After spending 10 years bouncing around the minor leagues and Japan, Travis Driskill wasn’t about to get flustered pitching at Yankee Stadium against baseball’s most powerful team.

Driskill held the Yankees in check and Tony Batista hit his 14th home run, and the Baltimore Orioles defeated New York, 4-3, Wednesday night.

“I know I’m a rookie, but I have been playing baseball for a while,” said Driskill, 30, who made his major league debut in April. “I wasn’t going to let this faze me. This is the mecca of baseball.”

Driskill had never been to New York before this week and compared pitching at Yankee Stadium to playing in the Tokyo Dome. Most of the Yankees had never heard of him.

Not anymore.

The bespectacled Driskill isn’t overpowering, but he was effective against the Yankees, who lead the majors with 339 runs and 97 homers.

“I’m not even 6 feet tall and I pitch with glasses on,” he said. “I don’t think I’m the most intimidating guy. When they watched the video, they saw I throw strikes and I’m sure they put their hitting shoes on.”

New York got a runner to second base in only one of the first seven innings and Driskill had a 4-1 lead with two out and nobody on in the eighth.

But Bernie Williams singled and Jorge Posada homered, ending an 0-for-13 streak. That ended Driskill’s night after 121 pitches.

Driskill, in his third career start, gave up three runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.

Boston 11, Detroit 0--Derek Lowe (9-2) became the AL’s first nine-game winner, giving up two hits in six innings at Detroit.

Nomar Garciaparra, Johnny Damon and Carlos Baerga each drove in three runs for the Red Sox, who improved to 24-6 on the road.

Cleveland 6, Minnesota 4--Ellis Burks and Jim Thome backed C.C. Sabathia with consecutive first-inning home runs at Minneapolis.

Thome hit his 300th career homer, a night after the Indians’ 23-2 loss to the Twins tied the largest losing margin in team history.

Sabathia (5-4) won for the second time in three starts, pitching 7 1/3 innings.

Tampa Bay 8, Toronto 6--Wilson Alvarez won for the first time in nearly three years, and the Devil Rays ended a five-game losing streak.

Carlos Delgado hit his 14th homer for the host Blue Jays, who had won five in a row and lost for the first time in three games under new Manager Carlos Tosca.

Alvarez (1-1), who sat out the last two seasons recovering from shoulder surgery, gave up two runs and six hits in six innings for his first victory since defeating Cleveland on Aug. 29, 1999.

Chicago 6, Kansas City 1--Gary Glover pitched three-hit ball for seven innings at Chicago, and Kenny Lofton hit a bases-loaded triple.

Glover (2-1) gave up one run, walked one and struck out five. He had not pitched past the fifth inning in any of his previous five starts.

Seattle 5, Oakland 0--Jamie Moyer (5-2) gave up four hits and struck out three in eight innings, and Ruben Sierra had three hits to lead the Mariners at Oakland.

Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single in the seventh inning, and Dan Wilson had two hits and drove in a run for the AL West-leading Mariners.