Clemens Wins 309th ; Yankees Close In on Title

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 6-0, Sunday at St. Petersburg, Fla., to give Roger Clemens (16-9) his 309th career victory and reduce to one the magic number for clinching their sixth consecutive American League East title.

The benches cleared in the middle of the fifth, after Tampa Bay starter Jeremi Gonzalez (6-10) hit Nick Johnson with a pitch, then exchanged words with Jorge Posada, who was brushed back before grounding out to end the inning.

“The Yankees like to have things their own way,” Tampa Bay Manager Lou Piniella said. “You’ve got to be able to pitch inside. When they do it’s fine. But when somebody else does it to them, they don’t like it.”

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Oakland 12, Seattle 0 -- Ted Lilly (12-9) won his sixth straight start and Mark Ellis hit his first grand slam as the host Athletics lowered to three their magic number for clinching the AL West.

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Boston 2, Cleveland 0 -- Pedro Martinez (14-4) struck out 11 in seven innings at Cleveland and put the Red Sox 2 1/2 games ahead of Seattle in the wild-card race.

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Kansas City 10, Chicago 4 -- Rondell White hit a two-run homer at Chicago, and the Royals won for the seventh time in nine games to tie White Sox for second place in the AL Central.

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Toronto 7, Baltimore 4 -- Reed Johnson had a tiebreaking RBI single against Hector Carrasco (2-6) in a three-run eighth at Baltimore.