Indians Prove No Match for Johnson

Randy Johnson, at times as dominant as he has been all season, worked into the eighth inning, leading the New York Yankees to a 10-4 victory over the Indians at Cleveland on Thursday night.

Johnson (10-7) yielded three runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings. The five-time Cy Young Award winner picked up his 273rd win, moving him into a tie for 30th place with Red Ruffing.

In his first start at Jacobs Field since 1998, Johnson walked none and struck out five. He took a 10-1 lead into the eighth before tiring but improved to 13-4 in his career against the Indians.

Johnson reminded reporters that he’s not the pitcher he once was.

“I’m 42 years old, so I’m happy just to win games,” Johnson said. “We all know that I’m really old. I’m not happy.”

It was a better outing than his last start against Cleveland on June 14, when Johnson was ejected in the seventh inning of a 6-1 win for throwing at former Cleveland first baseman Eduardo Perez. The next day, Major League Baseball gave him a five-game suspension.

This time, Johnson dealt the punishment.

“He was terrific,” Yankees Manager Joe Torre said. “He gave us what we needed, and we gave him some runs to work with.”

Still, Johnson was not completely pleased with his outing.

“I’m not happy,” he said. “It went from two hits to seven, from one run to four. I could be content with that, but I’m competitive.”

Boston 12, Tampa Bay 5 -- David Ortiz hit his 28th and 29th home runs, the latter a ninth-inning grand slam that broke open a close game and helped the Red Sox avoid a four-game sweep at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Ortiz, who drove in six runs, has six homers in his last six games.

Manny Ramirez and Doug Mirabelli also homered for the Red Sox, who led, 6-5, before loading the bases with none out in the ninth on two singles and a walk.

Ortiz hit the first pitch over the wall in left-center, giving him a career-best 82 runs batted in before the All-Star break.

Chicago 11, Baltimore 8 -- Jim Thome hit two homers and matched his career high with six RBIs to lead the White Sox at Chicago.

Thome hit a grand slam in the third inning and a two-run shot in the fifth and is tied with Ortiz for the league lead with 29 homers.

The White Sox took three of four games from the Orioles to win their ninth consecutive series and have won 16 of their last 20 games.

Kansas City 6, Toronto 2 -- Mark Redman, the Royals’ lone selection to the All-Star game, gave up five hits in eight-plus innings at Kansas City, Mo.

Redman, who is 6-0 with a 4.05 earned-run average in his last seven starts, did not give up a hit until Vernon Wells’ line-drive single in the fourth.

Redman gave up both runs, walked two and struck out two. He lowered his ERA from 6.88 after his first seven starts to 5.27.