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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Mariano Rivera held on -- barely.
A day after causing a loss to Minnesota, Rivera loaded the bases
in the ninth inning before saving the New York Yankees' 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.
|  | | Jorge Posada shows he has the ball after tagging out the Royals' Mike Sweeney at home in the first inning. |
"I'm throwing good," said Rivera, who retired Mike Sweeney on
a game-ending flyout to center. "Sometimes these things just
happen."
Jorge Posada went 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in the
go-ahead run, and Andy Pettitte (17-7) won for the eight time in
nine decisions since July 20 as New York maintained its
season-high, six-game lead over second-place Boston in the AL East.
And Rivera supplied the drama.
Dave McCarty singled leading off the ninth and went to second on
Hector Ortiz's sacrifice. Rivera struck out Carlos Febles, then
walked Johnny Damon and allowed an infield single to pinch-hitter
Wilson Delgado, released by the Yankees on Aug. 11.
Sweeney, who had been 3-for-4, then hit his drive to medium
center, falling to 21-for-49 (.429) with the bases loaded in his
career. Overall, he is hitting .339 this season.
"Mariano Rivera is one of the best closers in the game,"
Sweeney said. "My job was to hit the ball hard and try to win the
game for our team. I did half the job -- I hit the ball hard."
Pettitte allowed all three runs and nine hits in 7 1/3 innings.
Jeff Nelson once again was shaky, letting an inherited runner
score on Sweeney's RBI grounder in the eighth before striking out
Joe Randa to end the inning with runners on first and third.
Mac Suzuki (8-8) gave up four runs and seven hits in 6 2/3
innings as Kansas City dropped to 1-6 this year against New York.
Jermaine Dye was 3-for-4 with three doubles off Pettitte.
New York took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a run-scoring single
by David Justice, who reached 100 RBI for the third time in his
career, and a run-scoring grounder by Tino Martinez.
Randa's two-run, two-out single tied the score in the bottom
half, but the Yankees came right back and went ahead 3-2 in the
fifth on Posada's second double.
Derek Jeter hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Pettitte
escaped a jam in the bottom half when he snagged Febles' liner back
to the mound and doubled up Ortiz off first for an inning-ending
double play.
With two outs in the first, Sweeney had tried to score from
first on the first of Dye's doubles. But Jeter took Justice's
throw from left to shortstop and threw a one-hopper to Posada, who
tagged out Sweeney.
"That's good spring training stuff," Yankees manager Joe Torre
said. "That's why you work on it."
Game notes
Yankees CF Bernie Williams left after one inning with
soreness in his right rib cage. He missed seven games from Aug.
19-25 after straining rib muscles during batting practice. ... New
York's Luis Sojo went 2-for-4 and has hit safely in 18 of his last
19 games. ... Jeter has reached base safely in 29 straight games,
the most by a Yankees player since he reached safely in 53 in a row
in 1999. ... Damon stole his league-leading 40th base, setting up
the eighth-inning run. ... Kansas City's Carlos Beltran, the 1999
AL Rookie of the Year, was activated from the disabled list before
the game and struck out as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning.
Beltran had been out since July 3 with a bone bruise in his right
knee. He squabbled with the Royals, who ordered him to rehabilitate
at their spring training camp in Haines City, Fla. When he refused
to report, the Royals suspended him without pay. The players'
association filed a grievance, but arbitrator Shaym Das hasn't
ruled.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Yankees Clubhouse
Kansas City Clubhouse
Steinbrenner's comments anger injured Knoblauch
Royals activate embattled Beltran from disabled list
RECAPS
Boston 5
Seattle 1
Cleveland 5
Tampa Bay 1
Oakland 10
Toronto 0
Texas 5
Chi. White Sox 4
Baltimore 3
Minnesota 2
Detroit 5
Anaheim 0
NY Yankees 4
Kansas City 3
Cincinnati 6
NY Mets 2
St. Louis 4
Montreal 2
Colorado 6
Chicago Cubs 2
Florida 5
Houston 2
San Francisco 3
Philadelphia 0
Pittsburgh 12
Los Angeles 1
San Diego 4
Milwaukee 3
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