Mussina Leads Yankees Past Rays

[April 08, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Mike Mussina tried to downplay it at first. He had pitched for so long, he said, it was only natural that he would move up some of baseball's career lists.

He eventually broke down: Being mentioned with Bob Gibson was pretty cool.

Mussina tied Gibson with his 251st win, Bobby Abreu hit a two-run homer and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 on Monday night.

"I think everybody knows Bob Gibson, who he was as a player and what he was able to accomplish, so it's nice," said Mussina, who allowed one run and two hits in six innings.

Abreu went 3-for-3 with a walk and Hideki Matsui drove in two runs for the Yankees, who lost Derek Jeter after two innings to a strained left quadriceps but salvaged a split of the four-game series before they headed west to start a difficult stretch.

In other AL games, it was Chicago White Sox 7, Minnesota 4; Los Angeles Angels 6, Cleveland 4; and Baltimore 5, Seattle 4.

Jeter said his leg first bothered him Sunday but he thought it was a cramp. He felt it grab again when he beat out a potential double-play grounder before Abreu's drive in the first inning.

"I didn't aggravate it but I didn't really push it," Jeter said. "I felt something so I didn't want to be stupid and I came out and hopefully it won't be too long."

Jeter departed before the third inning and an MRI revealed the strain. Manager Joe Girardi said he won't play Tuesday afternoon against Kansas City, but the club didn't have any immediate plans to put him on the disabled list.

"Leg injuries aren't an exact science," Girardi said. "Hopefully it'll be less than a week but we'll have to see."

The Yankees didn't miss Jeter on another chilly night in the Bronx. New York, which scored just 17 runs in its first six games, finished with season highs for runs and hits with 11.

"I think everything worked together," Abreu said. "This team is supposed to score some runs. We've got a pretty good offense."

Mussina is tied with Gibson for 42nd place on the wins list. He struck out three to equal Yankees TV broadcaster David Cone for 21st place with 2,668 Ks.

Jonny Gomes homered for the Rays, who are 3-3 heading into their home opener against Seattle on Tuesday. Tampa Bay has never finished with a winning record on its first road trip of the year.

"It's great that we're disappointed," manager Joe Maddon said. "It's part of raising our level of expectations."

New York went 4-3 on its season-opening homestand and plays 18 of its next 20 on the road.

Girardi may have a thin bench to work with as he starts his first trip as Yankees manager. He was without two regulars against the Rays before Jeter's injury. First baseman Jason Giambi missed his second straight game with a sore left groin and catcher Jorge Posada got the day off.

Abreu's first homer of the season made it 2-0 and the Yankees pushed across two more runs in the sixth against Jason Hammel (0-1). Abreu led off with a triple to right-center and scored on Alex Rodriguez's single. Matsui then doubled down the first-base line to drive in A-Rod and make it 4-1.

That was enough for Mussina (1-1). He improved to 8-1 with a 1.92 ERA in nine career starts against Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium.

"In and out, keeping the ball down, mixing up pitches, kept us off balance all night," B.J. Upton said.

White Sox 7, Twins 4

Joe Crede hit a tiebreaking grand slam to cap a five-run seventh inning, and the White Sox won their home opener.

Coming off a weekend sweep at Detroit, Chicago has won five straight for the first time since Aug. 10-14, 2006. The White Sox have won six of their past seven home openers.

Crede is batting .393 with 10 RBIs. Last year, limited to 47 games because of a back injury, he hit .216 with 22 RBIs.

Chicago's Javier Vazquez (1-1) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking one. Bobby Jenks pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save in as many chances.

Matt Guerrier (0-1) got the loss.

Angels 6, Indians 4

Torii Hunter hit a grand slam with one out in the ninth inning after Cleveland scored three runs in the top half off closer Francisco Rodriguez, lifting the host Angels.

Jhonny Peralta doubled home the go-ahead run off Rodriguez in a three-run ninth as Cleveland took a 4-2 lead before the Angels rallied against Indians closer Joe Borowski (0-1).

The right-hander surrendered a one-out walk to Gary Matthews Jr., a single to Vladimir Guerrero and another walk to Garret Anderson before Hunter drove a 1-0 pitch just inside the left field pole for his 10th career slam.

Hunter also homered in the eighth inning, off reliever Rafael Betancourt, to put the Angels ahead 2-1.

Scot Shields (1-0) relieved Rodriguez in the ninth and gave up an RBI single to Casey Blake before completing the inning.

Orioles 5, Mariners 4

At Baltimore, Aubrey Huff homered to break an eighth-inning tie, and the surprising Orioles completed their first four-game sweep of Seattle since 1999.

Melvin Mora also homered, and Brian Roberts had three hits for the Orioles, an AL-best 5-1. The Mariners, last in the AL West, fell to 2-5.

Huff connected off Eric Flaherty (0-1), whose performance was typical of the Mariners bullpen throughout the series. Pitching without injured closer J.J. Putz, Seattle relievers gave up six runs over 7 2-3 innings.

Ichiro Suzuki opened the game with his 26th career leadoff homer and singled in the seventh for his 1,600th hit. Raul Ibanez homered and drove in two runs for Seattle.

Dennis Sarfate (2-0) retired all four batters he faced and George Sherrill, who pitched for Seattle last year, worked the ninth for his fourth save -- his third in the series.

[Associated Press; By JAY COHEN]

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