Yankees Roll Over Red Sox

Chuck Knoblauch’s teammates have taken to calling him “Dizzy,” and it’s not because he throws like St. Louis Cardinal Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean.

It’s because after sitting out two games because of dizziness, the Yankee second baseman returned Friday night to go five for six with four runs batted in to lead New York to a 13-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Boston.

“Dizzy, time for the bus,” shortstop Derek Jeter yelled to him in the clubhouse. “Dizzy, get your stuff.”

Knoblauch may have followed Jeter to the team bus, but Jeter was following Knoblauch around the bases all night. The two led off the game with consecutive homers, then scored again in the second inning as New York jumped to a 9-2 lead after three innings.

It was the first time the Yankees led off a game with consecutive homers since April 27, 1955, when Hank Bauer and Andy Carey did it against the Chicago White Sox.

“Partly cloudy, he comes out and whacks the ball,” Manager Joe Torre said. “Maybe he’ll pass it around to the other guys too.”

Hideki Irabu (8-3) struck out 12, settling down after a blowing a 2-0 lead in the first inning to retire 21 of the last 23 batters and win his seventh consecutive decision. He gave up six hits and a walk in his second complete game, at one point striking out five batters in a row.

“We scored early and they came right back. It was looking like it might be a high-scoring game on both sides,” Jeter said. “Once Irabu settled down, he was tough to hit.”

Jorge Posada had two doubles and a two-run homer, and Scott Brosius also had three hits for the Yankees.

Cleveland 10, Chicago 2--Bartolo Colon pitched eight strong innings for his fourth win in July and Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer at Cleveland as the Indians won their fourth in a row.

As trade rumors involving Angel pitcher Chuck Finley swirled around Jacobs Field, Colon (10-3) again showed signs he will be the Indians’ most important pitcher in October.

Colon went 4-0 in six July starts and overpowered the White Sox after giving up a run in the first. The right-hander retired 10 in a row and 18 of 19 during one stretch. He gave up six hits, walked none and struck out four.

Colon, who has pitched into the eighth inning in six of his last eight starts, has lowered his earned-run average from 6.39 to 4.36 since May 29.

Manny Ramirez drove in his major league-leading 107th and 108th RBIs, Alex Ramirez had three hits and Roberto Alomar and Omar Vizquel drove in two runs each for the Indians.

Toronto 8, Detroit 2--Shawn Green homered to extend his hitting streak to a team-record 27 games and Kelvim Escobar pitched a six-hitter at Toronto.

Green hit his 30th home run to break the Blue Jays’ hitting-streak mark of 26 consecutive games by John Olerud in 1993.

Willie Greene, who had three hits and drove in three runs, and Green hit consecutive homers in the first inning for a 2-1 lead. Green reached the 30-homer mark for the second year in a row.

Tiger reliever C.J. Nitkowski barely missed Carlos Delgado’s head with a pitch in the seventh. Delgado glared at Nitkowski, then hit the next pitch over the center-field wall for his 26th homer. Tony Fernandez followed with a home run.

Escobar (9-7) pitched the first complete game of his career in his 31st start. He struck out six and walked two in sending Detroit to its fourth consecutive loss.

Seattle 7, Baltimore 4--Alex Rodriguez hit his second grand slam in nine games at Safeco Field and the Mariners scored six runs in the fifth inning at Seattle.

Jay Buhner also homered in the fifth, when the Mariners batted around to overcome a 2-0 deficit.

Oakland 4, Tampa Bay 1--Mike Oquist gave up only four hits in seven innings, and Miguel Tejada and Matt Stairs each hit two-run homers at Oakland.

Wade Boggs of the Devil Rays went 0 for 4 and remained eight hits shy of 3,000.