Yankees 6 Orioles 3
BALTIMORE – After tearing through the bottom feeders of the AL, the Yankees open the Subway Series against the Mets tonight at Yankee Stadium. Based on the way the Yankees handled the Devil Rays and Orioles this past week, there is no reason to believe they won’t punish the Mets, who are as equally inept as the Orioles if not as putrid as the Devil Rays.
With Ted Lilly supplying a quality start, Jay Witasick and Mariano Rivera effective relief, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez homering and Derek Jeter providing a two-run single, the Yankees posted a 6-3 win over the O’s last night in front of 44,635 at Camden Yards.
The victory extended the Yankees’ season-high winning streak to eight and kept them one-half game ahead of the second-place Red Sox in the AL East.
Lilly (3-1) went six-plus innings, allowing one run and three hits, for the victory, his first since May 27. Witasick loaded the bases in the seventh, but left them that way.
Mark Wohlers came on in the eighth with two outs, runners on first and second and the Yankees leading, 4-1, after All Star Mike Stanton allowed two singles. Wohlers went to 3-1 on Jeff Conine before getting him on a chopper to third to close the eighth.
Given a chance to post his first AL save, Wohlers committed a costly throwing error on Melvin Mora’s ninth-inning bunt. That put runners at second and third without an out and when Cal Ripken’s line single drove in both, Joe Torre went for Rivera. He recorded the final three outs for his 28th save. Rivera also notched his 27th broken bat of the year when he shattered pinch-hitter Chris Richard’s lumber on a comebacker to the mound for the first out of the ninth.
Williams, who has reached base in 39 straight games, clubbed a two-run homer off loser Josh Towers (6-3) in the first inning. Martinez went deep with the bases empty in the eighth off lefty B.J. Ryan for his 16th homer of the year, matching his total of last season.
Jeter stroked a single to center in the ninth that scored Chuck Knoblauch and Alfonso Soriano and hiked the Yankees’ lead from 4-1 to 6-1.
The game was delayed for 41 minutes in the first when a fierce storm featuring high winds and heavy rain ripped through the ballpark.
When Lilly walked David Segui starting the seventh, Torre went for Witasick, who retired Conine on a fly to right and fanned Tony Batista on an 82 mph 0-2 slider. Witasick, whose fastball was clocked at 97 mph, added intrigue to the inning by grazing Melvin Mora with the first pitch and Jeter did his part to make the Yankees sweat when he doubled clutched on Ripken’s grounder that went for an infield single to load the bases for Mike Kinkade.
Witasick got ahead of Kinkade, 1-2, and put him away with an 84 mph slider to strand three and keep the Yankees’ 3-1 lead intact.
Lilly, who lasted just 32/3 innings in his last start and hadn’t won since beating the Indians on May 27, allowed one run and three hits through five.
He retired the first eight Orioles batters before Fernando Lunar dumped a single into right-center for the first hit of the game with two outs in the third.
After the rain delay, Jeter greeted Towers with a double to right. Three pitches later, Williams smoked a 1-1 pitch to right for his 15th homer and a 2-0 lead.
