Clemens, Yankees Keep Piling Up Wins

Roger Clemens won his 296th career game and the New York Yankees hit four home runs, two of them upper-deck shots by Robin Ventura, to end Minnesota’s six-game winning streak with an 11-4 victory Friday night at Minneapolis.

That’s 10 straight wins for New York against the Twins the last two seasons. The last time Minnesota beat the Yankees was May 10, 2001.

Alfonso Soriano set the tone with a leadoff homer. It was his sixth homer of the season and third in as many games, and Raul Mondesi also homered for the Yankees -- whose 31 home runs are second-most in the majors. They’ve given up only four.

Clemens (3-0) struck out eight and gave up one run in six innings, lowering his earned-run average to 2.08 and stretching the record of New York’s starting pitchers to a franchise-best 11-0. The Yankees are off to their best start ever at 13-3 and lead the American League in batting.

Kansas City 4, Detroit 3 -- Ken Harvey homered leading off the bottom of the 11th for the Royals at Kansas City, Mo., to hand the Tigers their 14th loss in 15 games this season. Harvey connected on an 0-and-2 pitch from Matt Anderson (0-1) for his second home run of the season, sending a near-sellout crowd home happy.

Raul Ibanez homered to tie it at 3-3 in the sixth for the Royals, who have won 12 of their first 15 games for the first time in team history. Carlos Beltran was activated from the disabled list for the Royals, hit third in the lineup and went 0 for 4 with a walk.

Chicago 5, Cleveland 3 -- Bartolo Colon pitched a nine-hitter to beat his old team in his first home start to help the White Sox win for the 10th time in 13 games. Colon (2-0) struck out three and walked three in Chicago’s first complete game of the season.

Boston 7, Toronto 3 -- Kevin Millar homered and the Red Sox capitalized on four walks by Jeff Tam to score three runs in the seventh, erase a 3-2 lead and win at Boston. It was Boston’s fifth consecutive win.

Baltimore 9, Tampa Bay 7 -- Tony Batista’s two-run single capped an eight-run second inning for the Orioles at Baltimore. Batista later hit a solo homer, finishing with three RBIs as the Orioles won their third straight.

Oakland 9, Texas 0 -- Barry Zito (3-1) pitched a six-hitter for his fourth career shutout and Erubiel Durazo hit a two-run double and a homer for the Athletics at Oakland.