Another Seattle Shutout

Joel Pineiro of the Seattle Mariners had never beaten the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, so Thursday night’s 4-0 victory at St. Petersburg, Fla., over the team with the worst record in the major leagues was especially satisfying.

“Knowing that I was 0-3 against these guys, I wanted some payback. I wanted to come out here and show them that I can pitch,” Pineiro said after giving up six hits in eight innings and extending his winning streak to six.

The Devil Rays defeated Pineiro, 3-2, in Seattle on May 22 and scored five third-inning runs to beat him at Tropicana Field six days later.

During his winning streak, the right-hander is 6-0 in six starts with a 1.14 earned-run average, lowering his ERA for the season to 2.50--second in the American League behind Boston’s Derek Lowe (2.36).

Pineiro (10-3), coming off a two-hit shutout of the Kansas City Royals on July 3, allowed two runners past first, struck out four and walked one. Shigetoshi Hasegawa threw a hitless ninth to finish Seattle’s 11th shutout.

The Mariners scored an unearned run in the first and Ruben Sierra hit a two-run double off Joe Kennedy (5-8) in the fifth.

New York 7, Cleveland 4--Andy Pettitte pitched seven strong innings as the Yankees won at Cleveland. Pettitte (3-3) didn’t allow an earned run as the AL East-leading Yankees won for the seventh time in eight games.

Rondell White homered in the fourth inning off C.C. Sabathia (6-8) and Jorge Posada had two RBIs for the Yankees. The Indians scored three runs in the ninth before Mariano Rivera got Omar Vizquel on a grounder for his 22nd save in 24 tries.

Oakland 4, Baltimore 1--Mark Mulder pitched seven shutout innings and improved to 10-5 for the Athletics, who won at Baltimore. Mulder didn’t allow a runner past second base and is 8-1 with a 2.08 ERA in his last nine starts.

Boston 10, Toronto 3--Manny Ramirez homered for the first time since coming off the disabled list June 25 and the Red Sox won at Toronto, posting their 11th consecutive victory over the Blue Jays. Boston’s John Burkett (8-3) won for the first time since June 4.

Minnesota 4, Texas 3--Eric Milton struck out a season-high 10, including six in a row in one stretch, for the host Twins.

Chicago 9, Detroit 2--Dan Wright scattered four hits over eight innings and Kenny Lofton had three RBIs as the White Sox won at Detroit.