Devil Rays Lose 14th Consecutive Game

Joe Torre knows what the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are going through.

“It’s no fun,” the Yankee manager said after Orlando Hernandez gave up only one hit and pitched into the eighth inning, and New York sent the reeling Devil Rays to their 14th consecutive loss with a 3-1 victory Thursday night at St. Petersburg, Fla.

“You go to sleep at night as a manager trying to figure out what you can do to relax your team. Obviously you can’t tell them, ‘Don’t pay attention to what’s happening.’ Tonight, I thought they played well and had a well-pitched game. But they ran into Duque, and that was the problem.”

Hernandez, who gave up one run in 72/3 innings, improved to 8-1 lifetime against the Devil Rays. Mariano Rivera worked out of a jam in the eighth, then finished the three-hitter for his 225th career save, breaking a tie with Dave Righetti for the franchise record. It was Rivera’s 10th save of the season.

Tampa Bay’s losing streak matches the longest in the major leagues since 1988. The Baltimore Orioles began that season by dropping an American League-record 21 consecutive games.

The Chicago Cubs also lost 14 in a row April 1-20, 1997. The Devil Rays are the first AL team to lose 14 in a row since the Milwaukee Brewers--now in the NL--did it in 1994.

The Devil Rays have scored three runs or fewer 11 times during their losing streak.

Boston 5, Oakland 1--Jose Offerman and Shea Hillenbrand homered to lead the Red Sox to their ninth consecutive victory and a three-game sweep of the Athletics at Oakland.

Derek Lowe (5-1) won his fourth consecutive decision, giving up one run and six hits in eight innings.

The Red Sox (24-7), who have the best record in baseball, are off to their best start since going 25-6 in 1946.

Seattle 8, Toronto 7--Mike Cameron drew a bases-loaded walk from Corey Thurman in the 11th inning to give the first-place Mariners a victory at Seattle.

The Mariners scored three runs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Kansas City 5, Cleveland 3--Mike Sweeney homered twice and Joe Randa hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning as the Royals rallied to win at Kansas City, Mo.

The Royals scored three runs in the eighth after the first two batters were retired.

Texas 4, Chicago 1--Fill-in starter Joaquin Benoit pitched six innings for his first career victory and Hector Ortiz homered for the first time in the victory at Arlington, Texas.

Benoit (1-0), who replaced an injured Ismael Valdes, gave up one run and four hits.