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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bernie Williams made sure the New York Yankees didn't waste another strong outing from a starting pitcher.
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Williams homered twice, including a grand slam, to back Roger
Clemens and snap New York's five-game losing streak with 9-4 win
over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.
"We don't like losing," manager Joe Torre said. "But we don't
panic when we do lose because we know that this day will come."
Torre, however, did make some changes after the Yankees scored
just 11 runs in their longest losing streak since last May. He
juggled the lineup, moving Williams to the second spot and Shane
Spencer to cleanup.
Both players delivered: Williams hit a solo homer in the fourth
inning and his eighth career grand slam in the fifth, while Spencer
went 3-for-5.
"If it doesn't work one way, you have to do something to get
things started," Williams said. "Joe has had the Midas touch.
Everything he has done has always worked for him."
And everything worked for the Yankees. After going three games
without an extra-base hit, they had seven in the first five innings
to make Clemens' job easy.
Clemens (4-3) even delivered an early message, hitting shortstop Jose Valentin on the right arm in the first inning. The Yankees' shortstop, Clay Bellinger, was hit in the left shoulder Tuesday.
"I wanted to be crisp and get some momentum early," Clemens said. "I wanted to get a tone working."
That was one of only five runners allowed by Clemens, who struck
out nine and walked none in seven innings. He allowed just four
hits with the only runs coming on solo homers by Greg Norton and
Magglio Ordonez.
The Yankees, who didn't hold a lead at the end of any inning
during their skid, broke out quickly against Jim Parque (3-2).
Chuck Knoblauch led off the game with a triple down the
right-field line and scored on Paul O'Neill's one-out double. Jorge
Posada added a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
"This was the worst of the year so far for me," Parque said.
"I'm getting behind a lot of guys and that gets you in trouble."
The Yankees scored twice in the third when center fielder Chris
Singleton, playing with a bandage on his dislocated right index
finger, dropped Jim Leyritz's line drive for a two-base error.
O'Neill and Posada scored on the play.
"He might have been a little cautious, but I don't know,"
manager Jerry Manuel said.
Then Williams took over.
After flashing a bunt on the first pitch from the left-handed
Parque, Williams homered into Monument Park for his ninth homer.
New York loaded the bases for Williams with one out in the fifth
against right-hander Tanyon Sturtze. Williams fouled off the first
five pitches before hitting a high fly that barely cleared the
right-field wall.
"When guys are on base, I'm a run producer," Williams said.
"It doesn't matter where I'm hitting. My job is to drive them
in."
Williams took a curtain call, as the Yankees fans finally had
something to cheer after watching their team get shut out in its
last two home games.
"When we're right as a team swinging the bats, there are not
too many holes in our lineup," Clemens said. "That was evident
tonight."
In between the two shutouts, the Yankees were swept in a
three-game series in Detroit, prompting a visit from owner George
Steinbrenner. The Boss must have been happier than he was after
watching the Yankees lose 4-0 in the series opener despite getting
eight strong innings from Orlando Hernandez.
"El Duque" has two of the five losses in the streak even
though he allowed only three runs in 17 innings. David Cone also
picked up a tough loss, allowing two runs in seven innings of a 2-1
loss Sunday in Detroit.
"I wish we could divide these runs up because Duque pitched
well the last couple of times and so did Coney," Clemens said.
Ordonez added a two-run double off Jason Grimsley in the eighth.
Game notes
Williams has homered from both sides of the plate eight
times in his career, including twice in the postseason. He has done
it twice this season, joining Mickey Mantle (1955-56) as the only
Yankees to do it. ... Williams has 11 career multihomer games. ...
The top four batters in the White Sox order were 0-for-26 in the
series before Ordonez's homer in the sixth. ... The Yankees last
lost six straight games from Sept. 1-6, 1997. ... Bellinger was a
late scratch because of the sore left shoulder.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Chi. White Sox Clubhouse
NY Yankees Clubhouse
RECAPS
Texas 11
Tampa Bay 6
Kansas City 4
Oakland 3
Cleveland 7
Detroit 2
NY Yankees 9
Chi. White Sox 4
Boston 8
Toronto 0
Anaheim 8
Baltimore 7
Seattle 4
Minnesota 0
Los Angeles 8
Chicago Cubs 6
Pittsburgh 9
Cincinnati 6
Florida 4
San Diego 2
Montreal 10
Arizona 2
Philadelphia 5
St. Louis 4
NY Mets 4
Colorado 2
Atlanta 5
San Francisco 4
Houston 0
Milwaukee 0
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