Brown Delivers for Yankees

Age and infirmity have added a new element to Kevin Brown’s repertoire.

The sinkerball that gets in on right-handed batters was evident Friday. So was the ferocious competitiveness that has gotten him in trouble, as when he slammed his left hand against a wall in frustration on Sept. 3 only to break two bones and require surgery.

The new wrinkle is a strain of humility, coupled with a sense that he might never have a better opportunity to earn another World Series ring. Given the chance Friday to give the Yankees a lead in their American League division series against the Minnesota Twins, Brown responded with a crafty and effective performance in an 8-4 rout that put the Yankees one victory from a rematch of last year’s AL championship series against the Boston Red Sox.

“When I was younger I probably, like most guys, felt a little bit like Superman, like nothing can hurt you,” Brown said after holding the Twins to one earned run -- a home run to Jacque Jones -- in six innings.

“I definitely don’t take that for granted these days, and in a setting of the way things have gone this year, to be able to be on the mound and be part of a win, it’s a great honor.”

Derek Jeter had two singles and a double and drove in three runs, Bernie Williams drove in two runs and extended his major league record by hitting his 20th home run in postseason play, and Miguel Cairo and Kenny Lofton each singled home a run in the Yankees’ three-run, two-out rally against Carlos Silva in the second inning.

Their clutch hitting deflated the crowd of 54,803, as did a four-run flurry in the sixth. The Twins came back with three runs in the ninth, leading the Yankees to summon closer Mariano Rivera, but Brown provided the foundation for the triumph that gives them the chance to end the best-of-five series today.

“I think the guys were probably scared enough watching me pitch today,” he joked. “I think it was a motivating factor for them.”

They didn’t know what to expect of him because he had pitched only twice since his fit of anger took him out of the rotation. They also knew he’d been plagued by debilitating back problems that pained him again Friday.

“I was really eager to see him out here,” catcher Jorge Posada said. “I thought he was poised and he was calm and he really stepped up. He’s a competitor.”

Said Manager Joe Torre: “He kept his composure all night, which I thought was great. We weren’t sure if he was going to go out there for the sixth inning, but he was able to get through it.”

Two blunders by the Twins got Brown out of a potential jam in the sixth. Torii Hunter led off with a double to left but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple; after Justin Morneau flied to left, Corey Koskie was thrown out trying to stretch a single to center into a double.

“It’s not fun getting thrown out when you’re down like that,” Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “[Brown] knew what to do with a lead. He didn’t walk too many people there. He made us swing the bats. That’s what good pitchers do.”

Jones had given the Twins the lead in the first, on his second home run of the series, but the Yankees pecked away at Silva for five consecutive two-out singles that produced three runs in the second.

They added four runs in the sixth on Williams’ two-run homer and run-scoring singles by Posada and John Olerud, and scored their last run when Hideki Matsui homered in the seventh despite a great effort by Hunter.

Although they acknowledged the importance of the outcome, the Yankees’ mood afterward was subdued. Jeter declined to discuss the possibility of playing the Red Sox, saying, “I don’t care about Boston right now. We’ve got Minnesota [today].”

The Twins hope the Yankees will have to deal with them today and in a decisive fifth game Sunday.

“We’ve got Johan [Santana] pitching and I like our chances,” Hunter said of Game 4. “We’ll get a split here and try to take it back to New York.”

Brown, too, was cautious. “It’s a very satisfying experience,” he said, “but I would say it’s tempered because we all in this clubhouse know this is obviously an important stepping stone, but no one’s going to be celebrating. We’re all looking at what we’ve got to do [today], which is go out and win another ballgame.”