Yankees Rout Blue Jays, 18-6

The New York Yankees keep solving their pitching problems with offense.

Tony Clark homered three times for the first time in his career, Ruben Sierra hit a grand slam for his 300th homer, and Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez also connected to lead the Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays, 18-6, Saturday at Toronto.

The Yankees had nine runs and 10 hits in the ninth inning, but Sheffield hobbled off the field after spraining his left ankle while stepping on third base. X-rays were negative.

“That was incredibly scary,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “My guess is he’ll miss some time.”

Sheffield was able to walk on it after the game.

“I feel pretty good. I don’t have a big limp,” Sheffield said. “I’ll be fine. I’m walking pretty good.”

Kevin Brown (10-3) became the first Yankee starter to win in 14 games since Jon Lieber beat Seattle on Aug. 13. Brown won for the first time in four starts since Aug. 5, giving up four runs, six hits and four walks in seven innings.

Oakland 5, Tampa Bay 4 -- At Oakland, Eric Chavez homered for the third game in a row and Tim Hudson won his third consecutive start.

Eric Byrnes hit a two-run homer for Oakland, which overcame three errors.

Texas 4, Baltimore 3 -- Rod Barajas homered and drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly at Arlington, Texas, and the Rangers extended the Orioles’ season-high losing streak to 12 games.

David Dellucci also homered for the Rangers.

Seattle 9-5, Kansas City 7-3 -- Randy Winn hit a two-run homer in the 12th inning of the second game to lead the Mariners to a doubleheader sweep at Seattle.

Ichiro Suzuki led off the 12th with an infield single -- his 50th hit in August, which gave him three months this season with at least 50 hits. Winn followed with his game-winning shot against Matt Kinney (0-1). Seattle won the first game after trailing, 4-0.

Boston 5, Detroit 1 -- Pedro Martinez struck out eight at Boston to move into the top 20 on the all-time list. Martinez gave up one run and four hits in seven innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner has 2,614 strikeouts, passing Chuck Finley for 20th place.

Chicago 5, Cleveland 3 -- Paul Konerko hit a three-run homer at Cleveland. Jose Contreras (12-6) got the win. He is 4-1 since being acquired from the Yankees on July 31.