Yankees 6 Orioles 3
BALTIMORE – When Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina take the ball, the Yankees expect to win. When Ted Lilly’s name is called, the expectations change a bit.
“I base my decision on if he gives us a chance to win,” Torre said of Lilly.
Last night at Camden Yards, Lilly did exactly that, supplying six strong innings and helping the Yankees to a 6-3 victory over the Orioles in front of 44,635.
Coming off a subpar outing against the putrid Devil Rays, Lilly used a strong curveball to get ahead of hitters from the first inning and posted his initial victory since beating the Indians on May 27 to improve to 3-1.
“I thought it was his best command by far and his best curveball,” Torre said of Lilly, who gave up one run and three hits. “It was real good for him.”
Lately, everything has been great for the Yankees. They have won a season-high eight in a row, lead the Red Sox by one-half game in the AL East and have turned Camden Yards into a personal playpen where they are 7-0 this year and 27-10 since the start of 1996.
Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez homered and Derek Jeter drove in two runs with a ninth-inning single. Jay Witasick left the bases loaded in the seventh when he fanned Mike Kinkade looking at an 84 mph slider.
The game was delayed for 41 minutes in the first inning when a severe storm that featured strong wind and heavy rain ripped through the ballpark.
Lilly’s victory was never in grave danger, not as long as Torre had Mariano Rivera left in the bullpen. But it did get tighter than it should have when Mark Wohlers threw away Melvin Mora’s bunt at first in the ninth with the Yankees leading, 6-1. Instead of having a runner on second and one out, the O’s had runners on second and third and no outs.
“I have to do a better job,” said Wohlers, who snuffed out a rally in the eighth when he got Jeff Conine on a chopper to Scott Brosius that stranded two runners with the Yankees up 4-1. “There is no excuse. I should have under-handed the ball and got the guy out. I play catch with my little girl and she would make a better throw than that.”
Cal Ripken followed Wohlers’ mistake by ripping a two-run single to left. Even though Torre wanted to avoid using Rivera, who recorded five outs Wednesday, he summoned the best closer in baseball. Rivera shattered pinch-hitter Chris Richard’s bat into four pieces for the first out, popped up pinch-hitter Jay Gibbons for the second out and posted his 28th save in 31 chances by getting Jerry Hairston on a grounder to Brosius.
Told that Richard’s wood was the 27th bat he broke this year, Rivera flashed a wide grin and said, “Really? That’s good.”
As for Lilly, the recipe for success included not falling behind.
“It’s no secret that it’s important to a lot of guys to get ahead,” said Lilly, who retired the first eighth batters he faced before Fernando Lunar singled in the third. “It gives you the opportunity to use your other pitches.”
Armed with a 2-0 lead thanks to Williams’ two-run homer off loser Josh Towers (6-3) in the first inning, Lilly gave a run back in the fourth and induced a double play to get out of trouble in the fifth. He followed a perfect sixth by walking David Segui to start the seventh and was replaced by Mike Stanton.
“My first goal is for us to win,” Lilly said. “I have felt that way from Day 1.”
