Gooden Is Plenty Good for Yankees

Dwight Gooden got back at the latest team to give up on him and earned himself another start.

Gooden (4-3) gave the New York Yankees exactly what they needed Friday night at New York, pitching effectively for six innings in an 11-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Manager Joe Torre said Gooden will get another start, his third since joining the Yankees after his release by the Devil Rays May 25.

Derek Jeter had four hits and Jorge Posada hit a two-run homer on a night when the Yankees’ offense was clicking. Jose Vizcaino added three hits, David Justice drove in three runs, Bernie Williams scored three runs and Tino Martinez had a two-run double for the Yankees, who accumulated 17 hits--two shy of their season high--in winning for the fifth time in seven games.

Gooden (4-3) gave up a home run to Gerald Williams on his second pitch of the game and yielded six hits in the first three innings. But he got better as the game moved along, repeatedly getting ahead in the count as he retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced.

Of Gooden’s 96 pitches, 61 were strikes. He gave up eight hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

Seattle 12, Texas 3--Carlos Guillen singled twice during a seven-run first inning and Jay Buhner and Mark McLemore homered in a five-run third as the Mariners routed the Rangers at Seattle.

Chicago 8, Boston 5--Magglio Ordonez singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning after first baseman Brian Daubach dropped his wind-blown foul popup for an error, and the White Sox overcame their own miscues to win at Boston.

“It was a tough play,” Daubach said of his first error of the season. “The wind was blowing as hard as I’ve seen it in the last two years.”

Chicago shortstop Jose Valentin made two errors in the sixth that allowed Boston to tie the score, 5-5. But Valentin had a homer and three RBIs.

Baltimore 9, Toronto 5--The Orioles ended a 20-game losing streak in Canada by beating the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Harold Baines had four hits, including a home run, as the Orioles won in Canada for the first time since defeating Toronto on June 13, 1998.

Baltimore had lost 14 in a row at SkyDome and had been swept in both of its interleague series at Montreal.

Minnesota 2, Cleveland 1--Rookie left-hander Mark Redman came within two outs of his first professional shutout, pitching the Twins past the Indians at Minneapolis. Redman (8-4) did not allow a runner past first base until Manny Ramirez homered with one out in the ninth.

Kansas City 4, Detroit 0--Dan Reichert pitched a six-hitter for his first career shutout and the Royals beat the Tigers at Detroit for their fourth win in a row. Johnny Damon, who went three for five, has had seven multi-hit games since the All-Star break. He is 15 for 22 (.682) during the winning streak, and his 15 hits in four games tied an American League record. Walt Dropo was the last AL player to get 15 hits in four games, doing it in 1952.