Johnny Damon homered and doubled twice as the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 in the American League on Saturday. Damon's hitting helped pitcher Mike Mussina win his third straight start. One day after co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said he was “disappointed with the way the season has gone,” the Yankees had 13 hits and beat Seattle for the second consecutive day following a three-game sweep by the Detroit Tigers. Damon scored three times and Mussina recorded his 254th win, passing Carl Hubbell on the career wins list while tying Jack Morris and Hall of Famer Red Faber for 39th place. Mussina struck out five in six innings. The Mariners have lost four in a row. Twins 4, Tigers 1: In Minneapolis, Craig Monroe hit a two-run homer to trigger Minnesota's win over Detroit. Brian Bass got his first major league win in relief of injured starter Scott Baker for the Twins. Bass allowed three hits in four scoreless innings. Tigers starter Justin Verlander retired the first 10 batters he faced but ran into trouble in the fourth, allowing a single, a double, loading the bases with an intentional walk and then conceding the opening run on a groundout. Royals 4, Indians 2: In Cleveland, Billy Butler's tiebreaking single keyed Kansas City's four-run seventh inning that defeated Cleveland. Red Sox 12, Rays 4: In Boston, Manny Ramirez singled in two runs in the first inning to end his longest RBI drought with Boston, which crunched Tampa Bay. Boston's Josh Beckett pitched eight innings, allowing seven hits. Angels 3, Orioles 1: In Anaheim, California, Jon Garland pitched three-hit ball for eight innings as Los Angeles beat Baltimore. Gary Matthews Jr. drove in two runs for the Angels, who left slumping slugger Vladimir Guerrero on the bench. Only four Orioles reached base against Garland, who allowed one run and retired 18 of his last 19 batters. Matthews started in right field for the Angels in place of Guerrero, who was given the day off. He is in an 0-for-15 drought, the first time in his career he's gone hitless in five consecutive games. Blue Jays 5, White Sox 2: In Toronto, Vernon Wells drove in three runs as Toronto beat Chicago. Marco Scutaro homered for the Blue Jays, who have won three straight after losing eight of nine. A solo home run in the seventh snapped a streak of 24 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings by Blue Jays pitchers. The White Sox have lost a season-high four straight. Rangers 6, Athletics 3: In Oakland, California, A.J. Murray made the most of his call-up from the minors, pitching Texas to a win over Oakland. Murray allowed only two earned runs in 5 1-3 innings a day after being called up from the minors. The Rangers have won four straight since questions were raised about the job stability of manager Ron Washington. The Rangers, who came into the game with a major league-worst 5.29 ERA, got their third straight strong pitching performance from an unlikely source. Texas has allowed just four earned runs the past three games.
