Slide Takes Out Knoblauch, but Not Yankees

A hard take-out slide at second base turned what could have been a painful loss into a painful victory for the New York Yankees.

Chuck Knoblauch was helped off the field and taken to a hospital after an eighth-inning collision with Corey Koskie during the Yankees’ 4-3 victory in 10 innings Thursday at Minneapolis.

Fortunately for Knoblauch and the Yankees, X-rays on his left leg revealed no break and no ligament damage but simply a bad bruise.

The play that caused the injury might have cost the Twins the game. Instead of a 4-3 lead, a rare interference call resulted in an inning-ending double play. The score was tied, 3-3, when David Cone walked Koskie, loading the bases with one out. Jason Grimsley (3-0) got pinch-hitter Ron Coomer to ground to short.

Derek Jeter fielded the slow-hit ball in the hole and threw to Knoblauch at second. Koskie plowed into Knoblauch, rolling up his leg, to try to break up the double play. Coomer would have been safe at first, allowing the go-ahead run to score, but umpire Jim Joyce called him out on Koskie’s interference.

The Yankees scored the winning run against Rick Aguilera (3-1). Bernie Williams led off with a single, stole second and took third on a groundout. Ricky Ledee singled to left to drive in Williams.

Oakland 3, Toronto 2--Gil Heredia pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and Matt Stairs hit a home run at Toronto as the A’s won their fifth consecutive game.

Heredia (2-2) gave up one run and six hits. Billy Taylor pitched 1 2/3 innings for his seventh save, striking out Shawn Green with a man on second to end the game.

Boston 3, Texas 2--The Red Sox overcame the loss of Bret Saberhagen at Fenway Park to end a losing streak at three games.

Saberhagen, sidelined 15 months because of a bad right shoulder in 1996-97, missed his last start with stiffness in his shoulder. He pitched three scoreless innings before leaving the game because of more stiffness. He gave up three hits, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Baltimore 4, Chicago 2--B.J. Surhoff hit two home runs, including the tiebreaking shot in the sixth inning, as the Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the White Sox at Baltimore. It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Orioles.

Tampa Bay 5, Kansas City 4--Pinch-runner Kevin Stocker scored the go-ahead run on Jose Santiago’s eighth-inning wild pitch at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tampa Bay’s Fred McGriff homered in the second inning, his 10th of the season and fifth in five games. Since being sidelined three games because of a bruise near his right eye, McGriff is 17 for 38 (.447) with seven homers and 13 RBIs.

Cleveland 8, Seattle 4--Sandy Alomar hit a two-run homer and Wil Cordero drove in three runs to help Bartolo Colon (4-1) beat the Mariners at Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 10th homer.