Panzram
05-28-2004, 11:46 PM
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Mariano Rivera became the 18th player to earn 300 saves, and a surging Derek Jeter hit one of the New York Yankees' four homers in a 7-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Friday night.
Javier Vazquez (5-4) pitched six-plus innings for the victory, and Rivera worked a scoreless ninth for his AL-leading 17th save. He became the first Yankee to record 300 in his career, and is the fourth pitcher to get 300 with one team, joining Trevor Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley and Jeff Montgomery.
Jeter continued his climb out of a season-long slump with three hits for the third straight game and helped the Yankees extend their longest road winning streak of the season to five games.
The win put the Yankees a season-best 11 games over .500 at 29-18.
Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and Ruben Sierra also homered, helping the Yankees improve to 7-3 on a 12-game trip that's the club's longest in nearly two years.
Coming off a sweep of Baltimore in which they scored 41 runs in a three-game series for just the fourth time in franchise history, the Yankees put on another strong offensive performance.
Jeter went 3-for-5, including a solo homer off Lance Carter in the ninth. He has 11 hits in his last 22 at-bats, and has raised his batting average to .221.
Sierra's two-run homer off Doug Waechter (2-5) in the fourth wiped out a 2-0 deficit and set the stage for New York's 12th comeback win in its last 16 victories.
Sheffield hit his fifth homer after Jeter doubled and Alex Rodriguez walked in the fifth. One out later, Matsui hit his eighth homer -- a solo shot off Waechter that made it 6-2.
The Devil Rays, who scored twice in the first on Julio Lugo's two-run single, rallied to within 6-5 with Aubrey Huff's solo homer in the fifth and two runs in the seventh after Vazquez yielded a leadoff double to Carl Crawford.
Huff's RBI single off reliever Paul Quantrill trimmed New York's lead to 6-4, and Lugo drove in the second run of the inning when he grounded into a force play at third with the bases loaded.
Rodriguez went 0-for-3 to stop an eight-game hitting streak. By walking twice, though, he nevertheless extended his streak of reaching base safely to 36 games -- one shy of the career best he set with Seattle in 1999.
It's the longest such streak in the majors this season, and has seen thereigning MVP go 41-for-144 with 11 homers and 26 RBIs.
Notes
Vazquez allowed four runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. ... Waechter has allowed 14 homers in 41 2-3 innings. ... Lugo has 16 RBIs in his last 13 games. ... New York's Jorge Posada has drawn a walk in 12 consecutive games. ... The Devil Rays called up 1B/DH Fred McGriff from Triple-A Durham to give him an opportunity to reach 500 home runs. He has 491. He pinch hit against RHP Tom Gordon in the eighth and popped to third. He will be in thelineup as the DH on Saturday night.
Javier Vazquez (5-4) pitched six-plus innings for the victory, and Rivera worked a scoreless ninth for his AL-leading 17th save. He became the first Yankee to record 300 in his career, and is the fourth pitcher to get 300 with one team, joining Trevor Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley and Jeff Montgomery.
Jeter continued his climb out of a season-long slump with three hits for the third straight game and helped the Yankees extend their longest road winning streak of the season to five games.
The win put the Yankees a season-best 11 games over .500 at 29-18.
Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and Ruben Sierra also homered, helping the Yankees improve to 7-3 on a 12-game trip that's the club's longest in nearly two years.
Coming off a sweep of Baltimore in which they scored 41 runs in a three-game series for just the fourth time in franchise history, the Yankees put on another strong offensive performance.
Jeter went 3-for-5, including a solo homer off Lance Carter in the ninth. He has 11 hits in his last 22 at-bats, and has raised his batting average to .221.
Sierra's two-run homer off Doug Waechter (2-5) in the fourth wiped out a 2-0 deficit and set the stage for New York's 12th comeback win in its last 16 victories.
Sheffield hit his fifth homer after Jeter doubled and Alex Rodriguez walked in the fifth. One out later, Matsui hit his eighth homer -- a solo shot off Waechter that made it 6-2.
The Devil Rays, who scored twice in the first on Julio Lugo's two-run single, rallied to within 6-5 with Aubrey Huff's solo homer in the fifth and two runs in the seventh after Vazquez yielded a leadoff double to Carl Crawford.
Huff's RBI single off reliever Paul Quantrill trimmed New York's lead to 6-4, and Lugo drove in the second run of the inning when he grounded into a force play at third with the bases loaded.
Rodriguez went 0-for-3 to stop an eight-game hitting streak. By walking twice, though, he nevertheless extended his streak of reaching base safely to 36 games -- one shy of the career best he set with Seattle in 1999.
It's the longest such streak in the majors this season, and has seen thereigning MVP go 41-for-144 with 11 homers and 26 RBIs.
Notes
Vazquez allowed four runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. ... Waechter has allowed 14 homers in 41 2-3 innings. ... Lugo has 16 RBIs in his last 13 games. ... New York's Jorge Posada has drawn a walk in 12 consecutive games. ... The Devil Rays called up 1B/DH Fred McGriff from Triple-A Durham to give him an opportunity to reach 500 home runs. He has 491. He pinch hit against RHP Tom Gordon in the eighth and popped to third. He will be in thelineup as the DH on Saturday night.