Schilling Doesn’t Have It This Time

Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams socked it to Curt Schilling, and Mariano Rivera stitched up the victory for the New York Yankees.

Giambi shook off a steroid controversy and a slump with a two-run homer to end a sixth-inning tie, and Williams had another homer Wednesday night to chase Boston’s postseason hero and give New York a 5-2 victory over the Red Sox at Boston.

“I’ve been working hard. It’s starting to pay off,” said Giambi, who hit .208 last year and was batting .190 this season as he rebounds from an intestinal parasite and off-season reports that put him at the center of baseball’s steroid scandal.

“I’m happy with the way everything has been going so far. I think it definitely felt good making a difference in a game. That’s what I came here to do.”

Rivera came on to a standing ovation from the Fenway fans, who remember him blowing four straight save opportunities against the Red Sox -- two in the playoffs as Boston came back from an 0-3 deficit to reach the World Series. But this time Rivera completed the job.

“I don’t know if they’re happy to see me come in,” he said. “They’re just being sarcastic. I’ve been struggling against them.”

It was Schilling’s first appearance since blood seeped through his sock in Game 2 of the Series, when he had his right ankle stitched together and shut down the St. Louis Cardinals to set the stage for Boston’s first title since 1918.

The sock went to the Hall of Fame, but Wednesday’s outing won’t earn Schilling any honors. After limiting the Yankees to three hits in the first four innings, he left with two outs in the sixth having given up five runs, five hits and a walk; he struck out five.

“It’s a loss,” Schilling said, dismissing the suggestion that he would be happy to come out of the game healthy. “These count. I get paid to win, period. I don’t take positives out of these.”

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Seattle 2, Kansas City 1 -- Aaron Sele gave up three hits in 6 1/3 innings at Kansas City, Mo., and the Mariners beat the Royals for Mike Hargrove’s 1,000th victory as a major league manager.

Ichiro Suzuki, who set the major league season record last year with 262 hits, was hitless in four at-bats and failed to hit safely for the first time in 20 games since Sept. 19 against Oakland.

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Baltimore 5, Tampa Bay 1 -- Brian Roberts kept up his torrid start with a tiebreaking RBI single, and Miguel Tejada and Sammy Sosa also had clutch hits in a four-run seventh inning that carried the Orioles at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Roberts went one for four and his run-scoring single off Mark Hendrickson (0-1) ended a 1-1 tie. The Orioles’ leadoff man is batting .394 with four homers and 10 RBIs during an eight-game hitting streak.

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Minnesota 8, Detroit 4 -- Terry Tiffee had a two-run homer and a career-high three RBIs in his first game of the season, and Jacque Jones also hit a two-run homer to lead the Twins, who have won three straight games, at Minneapolis.

Tiffee, called up from triple-A Rochester on Tuesday, went two for four with two runs scored.

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Chicago 5, Cleveland 4 -- Juan Uribe drove home the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning at Cleveland, and the White Sox improved to 4-1 against the Indians and are off to their best start since 1991 at 6-2.

Luis Vizcaino (1-1) pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings and Dustin Hermanson worked the 10th for his first save.

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Oakland 6, Toronto 3 -- Jason Kendall hit a tiebreaking single to left in the eighth inning and the Athletics avoided a three-game sweep with a victory over the Blue Jays at Oakland.