Tigers Rout Yankees as Johnson Pitches In

Jason Johnson was learning how to become a major league starter when Mike Mussina was Baltimore’s ace.

On Tuesday night, he showed his former teammate what he learned.

Johnson pitched eight dominant innings and Rondell White and Bobby Higginson hit two-run homers at New York to help Detroit defeat the New York Yankees, 9-1, ending their five-game losing streak.

“I knew that I would have to be on my ‘A’ game to beat him,” Johnson said of his teammate for the 1999 and 2000 seasons, his second and third full seasons in the majors.

And he was, working all of his pitches and keeping the Yankees off-balance. Johnson (6-7) retired his first 12 batters and was even left to sit alone at the end of the Tiger bench after the fourth -- a superstition when pitchers are working on a no-hitter or perfect game.

He lost his bid for perfection and his first big league shutout in the fifth. Alex Rodriguez led off with a sharp single to center, Jason Giambi followed with an infield hit to shortstop and Jorge Posada lined an opposite-field run-scoring single to left to make it 2-1 with no outs. But Johnson retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.

Dmitri Young had three doubles, two runs batted in and two runs scored as the Tigers rebounded from a 10-3 loss to the Yankees on Monday with their first victory at Yankee Stadium since Sept. 7, 2002.

New York lost for the fourth time in five games since completing a three-game sweep against Boston.

Boston 11, Oakland 0 -- Tim Wakefield (5-5) pitched seven innings of three-hit ball for his first victory in six weeks and Johnny Damon singled five times as the Red Sox routed the Athletics at Boston.

Tampa Bay 3, Baltimore 1 -- Mark Hendrickson pitched eight shutout innings and the Devil Rays halted a three-game losing streak at Baltimore.

Toronto 7, Seattle 6 -- Carlos Delgado doubled in his first at-bat off the disabled list, and Reed Johnson and Josh Phelps homered in a six-run first inning for the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Cleveland 4, Texas 1 -- The Indians halted a three-game losing streak at Cleveland behind Cliff Lee (8-1), who gave up four hits, struck out five and improved to 7-1 in starts after a Cleveland loss.

Minnesota 4, Kansas City 0 -- Johan Santana (7-5) pitched a three-hitter for his first career complete game and tied his high with 13 strikeouts at Minneapolis.