Mussina Is Satisfied With Win

Mike Mussina wasn’t disappointed about not getting a perfect game after retiring the first 16 batters--not after his previous Fenway Park appearance last summer.

“I’ve been within a strike, so I’ve got to be pretty close to be upset about it,” he said after the New York Yankees ended a four-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

Last Sept. 2, Mussina (3-0) retired the first 26 batters and had a 1-2 count on pinch-hitter Carl Everett, who blooped a single into left field.

Six days later at Yankee Stadium, he beat the Red Sox again, giving up one run and three hits in six innings. In his two previous starts this year, he yielded two runs and six hits in 15 innings.

Doug Mirabelli was Boston’s first runner Sunday when he singled with one out in the sixth. Mussina gave up four hits in the seventh, including Manny Ramirez’s two-run homer.

“It’s always nice to get a hit,” Mirabelli said, “but it was kind of meaningless as far as the game went.”

The game had more than the usual meaning for closer Mariano Rivera, who had a rare failure Saturday when he gave up Shea Hillenbrand’s homer in the eighth that gave Boston a 7-6 victory.

Rivera got the final four outs for his fifth save in six chances as the Yankees moved back into the AL East lead, half a game ahead of Boston.

“I watched the replay last night and I knew what I did wrong. I slept well,” Rivera said. “I was hoping to pitch today.”

Tim Wakefield (1-1) pitched six strong innings for Boston, leaving with a 2-0 deficit.

“Mussina is on top of his game and I knew I’d have to pitch my best to keep pace,” Wakefield said. “I did that for six innings.”

Seattle 9, Texas 7--Alex Rodriguez certainly did his share for the Rangers at Arlington, Tex., hitting two homers and driving in five runs, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Mariners from winning their seventh in a row.

Ruben Sierra, who went five for five against his former team, hit a single that put the Mariners ahead to stay after they rallied from a 5-1 deficit.

Rodriguez had a two-run homer in the fourth and a three-run drive in the sixth for his 21st career multihomer game. Rodriguez and Ranger starter Kenny Rogers were participants in a fourth-inning triple play, the first in the majors this season.

Seattle, which had 18 hits, scored eight runs against the bullpen to improve to 7-0 in the road. The Mariners set an AL record with 59 road victories last season.

With the score tied, 7-7, in the eighth, Mike Cameron drew a walk from Rudy Seanez (0-2), took second on a wild pitch and scored on Sierra’s single.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa (2-0) gave up two hits in 12/3 relief innings and Kazuhiro Sasaki got four outs for his third save.

Baltimore 9, Chicago 4--Melvin Mora hit a three-run homer and scored three times and Jay Gibbons hit a two-homer to lead the Orioles at Comiskey Park.

Calvin Maduro (1-1) pitched in and out of trouble over six innings for the Orioles. Maduro gave up three runs, seven hits and two walks.

Carlos Lee homered for the White Sox, who did not get another good outing from Dan Wright. Wright (1-1) gave up five runs, five hits and walked three in two-plus innings.

Gibbons, who had three hits, hit a leadoff double in the third, and Wright was relieved by Lorenzo Barcelo. One out later, Marty Cordova hit a run-scoring single.

The Orioles scored four more in the fourth. David Segui hit a two-run single and Gibbons hit his third homer, a two-run shot to right to make it 9-2.

Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 4--Ben Grieve’s run-scoring single in the 10th inning at St. Petersburg, Fla., prevented the Blue Jays from completing a series sweep and extending their winning streak to five games.

Randy Winn hit a two-out double off Pasqual Coco (0-1). After Steve Cox was intentionally walked and Greg Vaughn walked on a 3-2 pitch, Grieve singled down the left-field line.

Toronto’s Jose Cruz Jr. hit a two-run homer in the sixth and tied the score, 4-4, with a run-scoring double in the eighth.

Tampa Bay second baseman Felix Escalona saved two runs when he dove to the left to grab Vernon Wells’ hard grounder, and then threw Wells out at first to end the eighth.

Devil Ray starter Wilson Alvarez left in the sixth inning with a pulled rib-cage muscle.

Alvarez went down to one knee and grabbed his right side after making a 2-2 pitch to Carlos Delgado.

The left-hander was making his second start after sitting out the previous two seasons while recovering from a partially torn left rotator cuff. He gave up two runs and two hits in 52/3 innings.

Kansas City at Cleveland--Rain finally slowed down the Indians, whose winning streak was on hold at 10 after their series finale against the Royals was postponed by bad weather. No makeup date was announced.

Cleveland (11-1) is off to its best start since opening 1966 at 14-1.