Weaver Gets Yankees Closer to East Title

Jeff Weaver gives the New York Yankees a great luxury.

Weaver pitched 7 2/3 strong innings in place of the ill David Wells, and Alfonso Soriano picked up his 200th hit of the season to help the Yankees defeat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7-1, Wednesday night at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Jason Giambi hit his 38th homer for the Yankees, who cut their magic number to two for clinching their fifth consecutive American League East title.

Weaver (10-11) gave up one run and six hits. Acquired from Detroit in a three-team trade July 5, Weaver has been used as a reliever by the pitching-rich Yankees.

“He’s an insurance policy for us,” Manager Joe Torre said. “One thing about him, he throws strikes. His whole approach of attacking the strike zone put the hitters on the defensive.”

Weaver threw 64 of 99 pitches for strikes in his first outing in eight days.

“These are the opportunities that allow something to happen,” Weaver said. “The same thing could happen in the postseason, and I need to be ready.”

Wells was scratched because of a stomach virus and was examined at the ballpark. He might pitch late this week or early next week.

Jared Sandberg hit a homer for Tampa Bay, which has lost 11 of 14 against the Yankees.

“That’s the Weaver that I’ve seen on TV for the past couple of years,” Sandberg said. “Dominating sinkerball pitcher, got the groundballs and spun the curveball when he needed to.”

Victor Zambrano (6-8) gave up four runs and five hits in five innings.

Soriano had a run-scoring single during a two-run third that put the Yankees ahead, 2-0. He later stole his 41st base.

Giambi hit a solo homer and Juan Rivera, bidding for postseason playing time in left field, had a run-scoring single in the fourth that made it 4-0. Rivera went three for four.

Soriano’s run-scoring single in the sixth put New York ahead, 5-0.

The Devil Rays became the last AL team to reach the 1-million mark in home attendance with the announced crowd of 14,993.

Minnesota 2, Detroit 0--Joe Mays (4-7) gave up three hits in six innings at Detroit, and Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his team-record 43rd save. Mays is 7-0 in his last nine starts against Detroit.

Minnesota scored on Matthew LeCroy’s single in the first and Luis Rivas’ double in the eighth.

Cleveland 6, Boston 4--Pinch-hitter Earl Snyder reached on one error and scored on another to break an eighth-inning tie at Boston, where the Indians rallied from a 4-0 deficit.

Cleveland took advantage of four errors to score twice in the seventh and three times in the eighth.

Toronto 2, Baltimore 1--Roy Halladay (17-7) gave up seven hits in seven shutout innings, and Carlos Delgado homered to lead the Blue Jays at Baltimore.

Baltimore’s Mike Bordick extended his run of errorless games to 100, one short of Rey Ordonez’s major league record for shortstops.

Kelvim Escobar got his 35th save.

Chicago 3, Kansas City 1--Frank Thomas homered for the second consecutive game for the host White Sox.

Miguel Olivo, playing in his second major league game, drove in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk. The White Sox have won five of six games.

Jon Garland (12-11) gave up one run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. Jeff Suppan (8-16) lost his ninth consecutive decision.