Rogers’ Arm Makes Up for His Glove

Kenny Rogers hurt the New York Yankees with his fielding, but he made up for it with a strong pitching performance.

Rogers gave up only three hits over 7 1/3 innings, but committed two of his team’s five errors Saturday night as the Yankees defeated the White Sox, 3-2, at Chicago.

“He was terrific--all but his fielding,” said Manager Joe Torre. “The important thing was that Kenny kept them to two runs.”

It was the Yankees’ second consecutive victory following a five-game losing streak.

“This is big,” said Tino Martinez, who hit a three-run homer for the Yankees in the eighth inning. “We’ve lost so many games that we should have won. This time, we came back and won one maybe we shouldn’t have.”

The Yankees trailed, 2-0, with one out in the eighth before rallying.

Joe Girardi and Bernie Williams hit consecutive singles off Al Levine, who had struck out the first four batters he faced. Cecil Fielder then reached on a fielder’s choice, forcing Williams at second and chasing Levine. Martinez followed with a homer off Tony Castillo (1-2) for a 3-2 Yankee lead.

Cleveland 11, Milwaukee 6--Manny Ramirez went four for five and the Indians won at Cleveland as the Brewers lost second baseman Fernando Vina to a broken left leg.

Vina, batting .321 and coming off a big game Friday, jammed his left foot into the base while stealing second in the first inning. He grabbed the ankle and started rocking on his back in obvious pain before being carried off the field five minutes later. The Brewers said Vina will sit out two months after surgery.

Cleveland came back from a 4-3 deficit with a three-run fourth as Charles Nagy (2-1) survived two homers by John Jaha. Nagy improved to 9-1 after a Cleveland loss the last two seasons and finally gave the Indians a good outing from a starter. He gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings, walking none and striking out seven.

Oakland 7, Detroit 1--Mark McGwire hit his fifth home run and Willie Adams won on the road for the first time in eight career starts as the Athletics won at Detroit, sending the Tigers to their fourth consecutive loss.

Geronimo Berroa homered and added a two-run double for the Athletics, who won their second consecutive following a four-game losing streak. Damon Mashore reached base five consecutive times with three singles and two walks.

Adams (1-1), who retired 17 in a row at one point, gave up three hits in 7 2/3 innings, struck out nine and walked three. He hadn’t gone past the fifth inning in four starts this season.

Minnesota 4, Seattle 0--Bob Tewksbury pitched a six-hitter for his sixth career shutout as the Twins won at Seattle.

Brent Brede’s two-out double in the second inning drove home Greg Colbrunn with the first run. Chuck Knoblauch hit a run-scoring single in the seventh, and Terry Steinbach added a run-scoring double later in the inning to put Minnesota up, 3-0.

The Twins scored their final run on Steinbach’s run-scoring single in the ninth.

Tewksbury (1-2) struck out five and walked one. He never faced more than four batters in an inning.

Seattle starter Dennis Martinez (1-1) gave up seven hits and three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Baltimore at Boston--The Orioles’ game against the Red Sox was postponed, the teams’ second rainout in two days. No makeup date was announced.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: G. Berroa

Team: Oakland

Performance: 2 for 4, HR, 2-run double

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Tino Martinez

Team: New York

Performance: 3-run game-winning HR in eighth

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Manny Ramirez

Team: Cleveland

Performance: 4 for 5, 2 doubles, HR, 2 RBI

Team’s Result: Win

*

PITCHING

Player: Willie Adams

Team: Oakland

Performance: 7 2/3 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 9 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Roger Clemens

Team: Toronto

Performance: 7 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 4 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Kenny Rogers

Team: New York

Performance: 7 1/3 innings, 3 hits, 2 unearned runs

Team’s Result: Win